No Safety Zone
by juniorvaristy
Summary: Chpater 24 and Epilogue Up! COMPLETE! They never battled it out for the sake of Sodapop. Now Sodapop's not there and there's nothing holding them back from fighting each other. Only one problem: They're not home...
1. The Summits

**The Summits**

True, Steve Randal has never like Ponyboy Curtis and Ponyboy never liked Steve. They two never battled it out because they both cared about Sodapop Curtis greatly and didn't want to hurt him. Now, Sodapop isn't there to stop them and they don't have anything to hold them back. Except maybe…they aren't home.

**Disclaimer: No I don't own anything except the plot and a few of Ponyboy's friends from school, not mentioned in the book. Everything else belongs to S.E. Hinton. **

***Oh yeah, and even though I cried and cried and cried when Johnny and Dally died, they still are dead in this fic. I have a purpose.***

***One more thing: IT'S MY FIRST OUTSIDERS FIC!!!!**

***Last thing: I'm not gonna explain everything over again because I'm assuming you all read the book…***

** *~*~NO ONE'S POV~*~***

            "We have randomly organized the whole school into groups." The principal droned on and on to the students at Tulsa High School. But this last comment caused many people to sit up and pay attention. 

            "…the next group is called the Summits," the gym teacher, who was now speaking said. Ponyboy Curtis sat up in his seat. He hadn't been called yet, but neither had a few of his friends. The whole school was going on a school nature week. The entire school was split up into several groups, all going different places. So far, Two-Bit Matthews was going into the forest and Ponyboy's other friend, Ben, was going with him.

            "…Sherry Valance, Randy Anderson…" Ponyboy sat all the way up when the gym teacher said that. Randy Anderson and Sherry "Cherry" Valance were Socs, but they were really nice to Ponyboy…well, when they weren't with their friends. 

            "…Ponyboy Curtis, Jake Perrimont, Kathy Perrimont…" Ponyboy smiled to himself. Jake and Kathy were twins and his acquaintances at school. They weren't afraid of him or anything since they were two years older than him. They didn't think he was a hood, just because he used to hang-out with Dallas Winston. The thought hit Ponyboy with a bang. _Used to…Dally was gone now…And there was nothing Ponyboy could do about it._

            "…and last but not least, Steve Randall…" audible groans could be heard from both Steve and Ponyboy who had a great dislike for each other, although they never said anything out loud. It was pretty obvious to everyone; except maybe Sodapop Curtis. 

            Sodapop Curtis was Steve's best friend and Ponyboy's older brother. They both cared about Soda so much; they didn't fight for his sake. 

            "The Summits will be going to the mountains for the week and camp out there, surviving on their own." Steve rolled his eyes and Ponyboy sunk lower into his seat. Two-Bit, who was sitting in between them, put an arm around them each and said, "Come on, you guys. You've lived with each other before, haven't you? One week isn't gonna kill ya!" Neither boy responded. 

            After school, Steve hurriedly left for the DX Station, not wanting to think about being on a mountain top with a tag-along kid like Ponyboy for a whole week. Ponyboy did the same. He ran his heart out at track practice and didn't stop for anyone or anything. Everyone knew something was wrong, but nobody asked what. Either they were afraid he'd pull a switchblade on them, like most Greasers did, or they knew better than to bother Ponyboy about it.

            "HEY, PONYBOY!" Sodapop called over to his younger brother as walked towards the DX Station. Steve tried hard not to make a face, glad that he was underneath a car or else he'd be in trouble with Soda.

            "Hey Soda," Ponyboy answered casually.

            "How was school?"

            "Pretty good."

            "Did they tell you what group you're gonna be in for the one week trip?"

            "Yup."

            "So what group…?" Soda started, but Steve cut him off, "Uh, Soda? Customer." Thankfully, there really _was a customer. For the first time ever, Ponyboy was glad about something Steve did. While Soda was busy, Ponyboy left to go home to do his homework. Steve happily watched him go, then slid back underneath the car to continue his work._

***I know that was short, but it's just the first chapter. PLEASE RATE IT!!! Tell me what you think. Did you love it? Hate it? Did you wanna applaud or throw tomatoes at me? TELL ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!! **

**Luv alwayz,**

**Crazy4nc128**


	2. Steve: Stupid Tagalong Kid

**Steve: Stupid Tagalong Kid**

**Disclaimer: No I don't own anything here except Ben, Jake, and Kathy so far. Everything else and everyone else belongs to S.E. Hinton**

***Thanks to Blatty, Karlei Shyanner, MaverickGirl, Blame-it-on-the-penguins, and Roxy for reviewing my story so far! I'm glad you like it!**

***I'm gonna put who's POV it is as the Chapter Title. Like this one is Steve…see? Does that work for everyone?**

            When Soda came back from the customer, he asked where Ponyboy had gone. I felt like screaming. Ponyboy, Ponyboy, Ponyboy. That was all I _ever heard from Soda. When I saw him some mornings, he was tired beyond belief. And when I asked him why, what did he say? "Yeah, I'm tired. I was up all night. Ponyboy had a nightmare." SO WHAT IF THE STUPID KID HAD A NIGHTMARE?! He's 14 freakin' years old! Of course, I never said that to Soda. Instead, I just smiled sympathetically and said, "Oh, that's too bad." And then Soda would drone on and on about how he was scared and worried for Ponyboy. This got me frustrated too. If the stupid kid was having the freakish nightmares recur all the time, they should take him to the doctor! And if they already did, then they shouldn't have to wake-up for him every single time he has one! I thought it was bad __before Ponyboy and Johnny ran to Windrixville…it's even worse now. _

            "Steve?" Soda cut into my thoughts.

            "Yeah?" I asked, jumping.

            "I hate to tell ya, buddy, but the shift's over."

            "Oh, right…" I got up and left with Soda looking at me strangely. When we opened the door of the Curtis house, who did we see first? Ponyboy. I really disliked that kid. Everywhere Soda and I went (and yes, I can do my grammar correctly when I want to), Ponyboy was sure to follow. What was wrong with the kid? Didn't he have a life? Friends? A girlfriend? Anything?! I guess not because he went _everywhere with us…well except when we went out with Evie and Sandy. Then again, we didn't that very often anymore. Ever since Sandy left, Evie had been mad at her and Soda had been really upset. So we just went out ourselves; just me n' Evie. I tuned into the conversation in the living room now. _

            "I had a talk with the Coach today," Two-Bit said. Ponyboy looked at him disbelievingly, "About what? Water boy of the basketball team?" Two-Bit rolled his eyes and slapped Ponyboy across the head playfully. Why did everyone think that kid was so funny? I sure didn't…Okay, so maybe that _one thing that he just said was a little bit funny, but still._

            "Seriously? About what?" Soda asked, plopping down onto the couch next to Ponyboy. I sat on the floor.

            "About switching groups."

            "Hey you two never told me which groups you're in!" Soda said, remembering. Darry had now come in and said, "Yeah, what groups _are you two in?"_

Two-Bit looked at me, then over to Ponyboy, then offered his group, "I'm in the Tree-huggers!"

Darry looked at him, "Where are you going, the forest?"

            "Actually, yeah."

            "Oh. What about you, Steve?"

I shrugged, "The Summits. We're going up on a mountain."

            "That's really tuff!" Soda exclaimed, probably wishing he was still in school. I sighed. I wish he was still in school too…

            "What about you, Pony?" Soda asked, calming down. I looked over to the youngest Curtis and watched him look up from a book he was reading, "The Summits." He answered simply and casually. Damn, that kid was a pretty good actor. I didn't know how he could stand it. I was about to blow-up. I knew that kid wasn't too fond of me either. But Soda looked excited, "Tuff! You guys get to be together!"

            "Yeah…Great…" Ponyboy and I said at the same time, trying to be cheerful. 

I muttered under my breath, "Great having a tag-along kid with me for a whole week." But I didn't mutter under my breath enough. Everybody heard. Ponyboy looked surprised at first, but then his eyes flashed.

            Soda, on the other hand, was not a happy camper, "What did you say?"

I sighed, knowing that Ponyboy's and my little "secret" was out.

            "Pony, he didn't mean that," Soda told his little brother. That was it. That was the last straw. I exploded, "I DID TOO MEAN IT, OKAY?!?!!?! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, YOU LITTLE BRAT?! YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE CHANCE TO TAG-ALONG WITH ME N' SODA EVER SINCE SANDY LEFT! NOW YOU HAVE YOUR CHANCE TO ANNOY ME ALL WEEK LONG!!!!!!!!" I screamed. Soda looked hurt. I felt sorry, but I couldn't help not liking his kid brother. My head was pounding and from the looks of it, Ponyboy was doing his best not to blow-up at me. It didn't work.

***I'm going to rate it PG-13 for now because of the language going to be used. Anyways, did you like that? Review please!!!!!***

**Luv alwayz,**

**Crazy4nc128**


	3. Ponyboy: Big BlowUp

**Ponyboy: Big Blow-up**

***Okay, I'm adding 2 chapters at the same time…YAY!!! GO ME!! I've never done this updating thing this quick before. Anyways REVIEW PLEASE!!!***

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except for the 3 friends of Ponyboy**

            No way was I going to take that shit from Steve Randall. Even _if he was Soda's best friend. I tried to stop myself from screaming at Steve like he screamed at me. I failed miserably, "TAGALONG KID?!?! IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK I AM?! WELL YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT STEVE RANDALL BECAUSE I AM __NOT A TAGALONG KID! IS IT MY FAULT THAT SODA ASKS ME TO GO WITH YOU GUYS IF YOU'RE NOT TAKING GIRLS?! IS IT MY FAULT THAT IT SOUNDS FUN SO I WANNA GO?! YOU'RE FULL OF IT STEVE! YOU'RE JUST AN ASSHOLE WHO HAS NOT LIFE AT ALL SO YOU PICK ON YOUNGER KIDS LIKE ME!!!!!!!! AND FOR THE RECORD, I HATE YOU TOO!!!!!!!" _

            We were both standing up at this point and we were both staring daggers at each other. If looks could kill, we'd both be dead. Soda was in total shock, especially after mine. He didn't think that I hated Steve. He didn't think Steve hated me. He thought we both loved each other like brothers. Well he was wrong. We both hated each other with red hot fire that would burn _anyone if they told us that we didn't __really hate each other. Darry was staring at me. I don't think he's ever really heard me say that much to anyone all at once ever since mom and dad died. Two-Bit was wide-eyed. He was probably the only person in the gang other than Johnny and Dally who knew that we hated each other. He just never thought we'd blow-up in front of Soda…the very person we tried __not to blow-up for. Soda was white, "You…you guys don't mean that…"_

            "YES WE DO!!!!" we shouted at him at the same exact time.

            "You guys, let's calm down…" Darry tried to make peace, but it really wasn't working.

            "NO DARRY! I'M NOT GONNA CALM DOWN! THE STUPID LITTLE TAGALONG KID JUST CALLED ME AN ASSHOLE AND I'M NOT GOING TO STAND FOR IT!" Steve yelled at Darry. 

            "I AM _NOT A LITTLE TAGALONG KID AND YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU __ARE AN ASSHOLE!!!"_

            Steve stared at me, eyes boring into mine. Then, he said, quietly and dangerously, "Kid, the next five days are gonna be the worst five days of your life."

            "You know something Steve?" I asked him, just as quiet as he was.

            "What?" he challenged.

            "You can just ROT IN HELL!!!!!!" I screamed out the last part. That was it for Steve. He lunged at me, knocking over the coffee table and pushing me hard into the wall. Although it hurt, I wasn't going to let _him know it. We started slugging each other and kicking each other. I guess we had these feelings bottled up inside of us for so long; we fought to a maximum magnitude. We wrestled and punched each other until Steve threw me into the TV, causing me to kick him against the fallen coffee table. Finally, Darry came to his senses and picked yelled, "STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!!" It wouldn't matter anyway. Neither of us would fight. We were too tired, upset, and weak to get back up and battle each other out again._

            "I never knew you felt that way about each other," Soda said quietly, helping me up. Tow-Bit helped Steve up. I took a look at Steve. He wouldn't be able to see out of one eye for awhile and he cut himself up pretty bad from the coffee table. I wondered what I looked like. Steve muttered something about having to go home and gave me the dirtiest of all dirty looks. I shot one right back at him. Two-Bit volunteered to go after him. 

            I escaped to the bathroom before either one of my brothers could say a word to me. I looked at myself in the mirror and gasped. I also had a black eye. The swelling feeling on my nose was from it being punched. It wasn't broken though because it didn't hurt when I touched it. My arms were bruised up pretty good too. I sighed and cleaned up my nose. About ten minutes later, there was no more blood and I was satisfied. I washed my face and undressed, leaving the bathroom.

            "I'm going to bed, night." I announced quickly slipping into mine and Soda's room. Neither of my brothers objected. I crawled underneath the covers and after long thoughts on what happened that day, I fell asleep. One problem: I had a nightmare.


	4. Soda: I Never Thought

**Soda: I Always Thought…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything here except the plot and Pony's friends not mentioned in the book.**

***Thanks to Blatty (again and thanks for mentioning me in YOUR story =p), Maverick Girl, twobitsgreaserbabi, Carly and all the people who reviewed my 1st chapter too. You guys rock!***

**Okay, so far nobody has thrown tomatoes at me…yet. Hopefully, they never will…hehe…I'm thinking about starting another story, working parallel with this one. It'll involve Steve a lot and Soda too. What do y'all think?**

*~From when Steve left the house and Ponyboy fled to the bathroom~*

            It was bad. I knew from the moment that they stood up and looked at each other, I knew they were gonna start raising all hell. Before I knew what was going on, Ponyboy and Steve were all over each other, punchin' and sluggin' and kickin'. It was unbelievable. They were always decent to each other; no one would have guessed that this was happening within each of them. Finally, Steve and Ponyboy stopped fighting, Steve on top of the knocked over coffee table and Ponyboy thrown against the TV. Steve wasted no time. He stormed out. Two-Bit sighed and looked over at us, "I'm goin' after him." Then he ran out after Steve. My younger brother, however stayed on the ground for awhile. There was total silence in the house. I could tell that Darry was debating whether he should yell at Ponyboy or be sympathetic towards him. And by the way Darry was turning red; I knew that Ponyboy was in a _little trouble. But before any of us could act upon it, Pony ran into the bathroom and slammed the door. Darry sighed, "I don't know weather to laugh or yell."_

I was startled, "_Laugh? How can you __laugh in a situation like this, Darry?"_

Darry shrugged, "Well, Soda, let's just say that you're probably the last to find out that Steve and Pony don't exactly like each other too much…"

            "WHAT?!"

            "It's the truth. They would hurt each other real bad if they were given the chance. It's you, Soda."

            "Me what?"

            "It's you that's keeping them from jumping down each other's throats every time he aggravates the other."

            "Why me though?"

            "Because, Soda," I could tell Darry was tired of explaining, "Because they don't wanna hurt you. Each of them knows how much you love and care about the other. Although it makes them mad as heck sometimes, they don't do anything because _they love you too, ya dig?"_

I nodded slowly, "Yeah…I dig." Thoughts raced through my mind at a million miles per hour. They were going to be living together for five days straight, without rest from each other…without _me. I only hoped that they weren't stupid enough to get into something while trying to survive in the wilderness._

            Pony finally came out of the bathroom, announcing tired and that he was going to bed. I saw dried up blood from his bloody nose before and his once red eye was turning purple. He'd have a helluva shiner the next morning. Neither Darry nor I objected to his sleep. It would be good for him anyway, after the kind of day he's had. 

            "I worry about the kid sometimes…" Darry sighed. 

            "Yeah, me too," I agreed, "Dar, what are we going to do? Steve and Pony are going to be _surviving together in the wilderness…away from me for five days in a row. What if they kill each other?"_

            "I'm sure they're not stupid enough to do that, Sodapop. Don't worry. You worry too much." Darry told me, even though I knew he was worried too. Finally, I just decided to go to bed and talk to both Pony and Steve the next morning.  

            "Hmm…No…No…Not now…mommy…daddy…." I heard a gasp and a mumble of those words, feeling the tossing and turning next to me and beneath my arm. Ponyboy was having "The Nightmare". I turned over to face him and tried to shake him awake. He was sweating really bad, probably in cold sweat, and he was shaking something awful.  

            "Pony, Pony…Come on, wake up. It's okay, it's Soda. I'm here, honey," I told him. His arm gripped mine and he dug his nails into my arm. Completely normal 'Ponyboy Nightmare Procedure'. 

            His eyes popped open and his breathing was a little labored, "S-Soda?" he whispered because if he said it loud, Darry would have come bounding in here. I think Pony's nightmare – the one he never remembers – scares Darry more than it scares Ponyboy himself. I mean, it scares the hell outta me too. 

            "Yeah, I'm here…Are you alright?"

            "N...n...no…" He shivered. I pulled him in closer. I guess we weren't as quiet as we thought we were because Darry was there in a minute, "What's going on?"

            "Nightmare." I told him.

            "You okay, Pony?"

            "Yeah, I'm okay now. Thanks Dar."

            "Okay, go back to sleep. Night."

            "Night," we whispered together. As soon as Darry left, I looked at my younger brother, "Okay, what's wrong?"

            "What do you mean?"

            "You just told Darry that you were fine. Meanwhile, you were telling me that you weren't okay a few seconds before."

            "I…I'm fine, Soda. Honest."

I nodded and turned over. I heard him sigh quietly, "Soda?"

I smiled to myself, knowing that he would do that, "Hmm?"

            "I'm sorry."

            "For what?"

            "For…waking you up." He said hesitantly. Knowing Ponyboy, he had just made that up and didn't let me know the truth. I nodded, "It's alright."

            Another pause. Then, "Soda?"

            "Mhmm?"

            "I'm also sorry for…for fightin' with Steve this afternoon."

            "It's…It's alright, Pony," I sighed turning now to face him.

            "No, no it's not. I mean I know he's your best buddy and everything. It's just…I couldn't help it. He was getting' me so mad…I'm sorry."

I looked at my baby brother and bit my lip, "Pony?"

            "Yeah?"

            "You'll be careful when you're out there in the mountains won't you? You won't do anything stupid and hurt yourself will you?"

            "Of course I won't. We've been in the wilderness many times…you know I'm careful!"

Of course I knew Pony was careful…But I didn't know if he was careful enough with Steve around…I just really hoped their friends on the trip were looking out for them…


	5. Steve: Evie

**Steve: Evie**

**Disclaimer: This is fiction, meaning NOT REAL. Okay? Okay. That means I don't own anything. Comprendez? Comprendez. Bon. (Sorry I'm writing a French paper right now…hehe)**

***Blatty: you _are special. DUH…you keep reviewing my story!! I FEEL SOOOO SPECIAL!!!!!_**

***Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed my story. YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!**

            Two-Bit came after me as soon as I beat it outta the Curtis' house. I didn't mean to hurt Sodapop like that; I mean, he's my best friend and everything. But at the same time, that little kid brother of his was really getting to me. He was eating away at me like tapeworms in a person's stomach. So anyway, Two-Bit came after me, "Steve! Yo, Randle!! STOP RUNNING!!!!!!!!!" I stopped, but not 'cause of Two-Bit. I was getting pretty tired. I don't know how Ponyboy runs so fast. It's really unbelievable. But then again, Ponyboy is a very unbelievable person. '_Don't you think that's a little bit unfair Steve?" I asked myself. The other voice responded, "__No. Not at all. The kid deserves it." _

            "Steve, you alright?" Two-Bit asked me before the two voices in my head could start an argument. I nodded at Two-Bit, wiping a bit of blood that was on my lip, "Fine. Just dandy!" I said sarcastically.

            "You know, you guys made quite a mess back there!" Two-Bit laughed with that goofy smiled of his. I couldn't help it; I had to laugh.

            "Want to go catch a movie?" I asked Two-Bit. 

            "Sure. Let's head on over to the Dingo." 

            "Okay." 

We headed over to the Dingo, passing the old lot we all used to hang-out in. Two-Bit and I walked past that as quickly as possible. Nobody ever liked thinking about Johnny and Dally being dead. The lot brought back so many memories…

            After the movie, I was tired and a little sore from Ponyboy. That kid was stronger than he looked. So anyway I decided to head on home. I thought that having Soda mad at me and fighting with Ponyboy had been enough to make my day bad, I was wrong. I got home to a very drunk and pissed off dad, a frightened mom and an angry Evie. 

            "What did I do this time?" I groaned to Evie. Evie didn't change her expression, "STEVE RANDLE! YOU ARE THE BIGGEST JERK I HAVE _EVER MET!"_

            "What do you mean?" I was truly confused.

            "What do I mean?!?!" she shrieked. 

            "Yeah…"

            "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CALL ME TONIGHT, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! AND WHEN I CALLED YOUR HOUSE, YOUR MOM SAID YOU WERE AT THE MOVIES! YOU PROMISED WE'D SPEND MORE TIME TOGETHER!!! BUT DO YOU KEEP THAT PROMISE?! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

I was a little scared of her now, "I…I'm sorry."

            "NO! STEVE! THAT'S NOT ALL!"

            "W-what now?"

            "I went to Soda's house to see if you were there…you know, maybe you'd want to hang-out, or maybe you'd just been waiting for the phone or something. You know what I saw when I got there?"

            "What?"

            "A blood-stained floor. And a glimpse of Ponyboy Curtis all bloodied up."

            "So?"

            "SO?!?! I backed out for awhile, thinking that they Curtis' needed a talk. After an hour, I knocked on the door and Darry answered. Soda was asleep and Darry told me that YOU beat HIM up! That YOU were fighting with HIM!!!"

            "Yeah I was. Evie, you _know I can't stand the kid."      _

            "Of course I know that. But do you _have to beat him up so bad? Do you __have to be fighting with a little 14 year old kid while instead we could be hanging-out and spending more time together…LIKE YOU PROMISED?!?!?!?!?!?!" she yelled at me. I balled my fists, trying not to explode. That Ponyboy Curtis was going to drive me up the wall, into outer space and back again. I hated him._

            "STEVE! I'M NOT DONE YET!! DON'T YOU IGNORE ME! WE'RE OVER, YA HEAR?!" she threw my jackets, CD's and other borrowed things at me; literally at me; then stormed out of the house. Evie was gone. She was truly gone…after everything we'd been through together…my girlfriend was…gone. 

            I slammed my fist into the couch, causing my dad to scream even more. My mom had long since beat it outta there so I did the same. I grabbed my jacket and ran to the Curtis house, where I was probably not very welcomed. The door was unlocked and I opened it. I heard a rush as I walked in. Darry saw me, nodded to me and pointed to the couch, then rushed into Ponyboy and Soda's room. A few minutes later, he came out and I pretended to be asleep. I heard him mutter, "Pony'll have a fit." Before going to bed. I wondered why he didn't mention Soda having a fit. I couldn't really think about it anymore because I was more tired than I thought. I immediately fell asleep.

***I know that was short…sorry…I have a lot of work to do. I'll try and post tomorrow but I have a chorus concert to perform for too. But PLEASE REVIEW!!!! Thanks!***


	6. Ponyboy: What Did I Do Now?

**Ponyboy: Now What Did I Do?**

**Disclaimer: No I don't own anything….sheesh…tell me something I didn't know…**

**Thanks to Burnin' Church Gal: YOU ROCK!!! And I think you're just being a _little too generous about my writing…it's not that great…_**

**Blatty: hehe…I don't think this will _ever stop…lol_**

**And to everyone else who reviewed! I love you all!! So anyways….on with the story!**

            The next morning, I woke-up before Soda because my eye was really bothering me. I wiggled out under Soda's arm and went into the bathroom to see what was wrong with my eye. When I looked in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw at all. 

            There was a boy with ruffled up blonde hair with some brown roots growing back in (thank god!!) and his left eye just looked tired but his right eye was something else. There was a huge black and blue mark making his eye seem almost swollen shut!! And his once bloody nose was a little bruised up too. He looked as if he'd been in a rumble with 5 socs against 1. And that boy…was me.

            My surprise soon turned into red hot anger towards Steve Randle. That guy was going to make me explode. I hated him so much, it wasn't even funny. I hated him for out bursting like that when we confessed that we'd been put in the same group, I hated him for fighting me, I hated him for hurting Soda, I hated him for hurting me…I just hated him! 

            "Soda, Pon…Soda, where's Ponyboy?" I heard Darry ask as he went to wake us up, probably prepared for a fight from me. I heard Soda sit up, "I…I don't know…"

            I stepped into the room, "I'm right here, Darry." They both turned around and the second that they saw me, their faces changed from sleepy to surprise in Darry's case and shocked in Soda's case. I saw Soda's eyes widen when he saw me. Darry tried not to laugh at Soda, but he couldn't help it.

            "He…He did…_that?" Soda gasped, snapping out of his somewhat daze and rushing up to me. He gently touched the area around my eye where it had turned purple. As soon as he did, I jumped away, "OW!"_

            "Sorry."

Darry shook his head, "What were you two thinking? Going at it like that?"

I rolled my eyes and thought '_This is going to be a big repeat of before Windrixville.' But surprisingly enough, it wasn't._

            "Darry…lay off of him." Soda told him.

            "Sorry…I guess you were both too mad to be thinking anyway," Darry sighed, giving in faster than he would normally. There was a slam of the door and we knew that Two-Bit had arrived. Who else slams the door like Two-Bit? He was whistling cheerily and stopped short when he saw me, "Man, you two should see each other!" he laughed.

            "Who me?" I asked, confused.

            "Yeah, you! You n' Stevie! You two beat each other up pretty bad!" For some reason, this started Darry laughing. Him and Two-Bit couldn't stop laughing hysterically. I grumbled, "Yeah, yeah…Go ahead…laugh. It ain't funny…"

We were all in the living room now and Steve was on the couch. I raised my eyebrows. I beat him up pretty bad. His cheek was swollen to the size of California and his lower lip was bruised, along with dried blood caked on his upper lip. Soda gasped again. I swear, he was gasping every two minutes that day. I ran away to get dressed before they woke Steve up. I thought maybe then, he wouldn't hurt me too much. 

            When I stepped out of the bathroom and walked into the kitchen ten minutes later, Steve and Soda were dressed and Steve shot me a look of death as soon as I walked in. I returned it, although he did seem surprised to see that he hurt me like he did. Before we could start anything, Darry ordered me to eat. I sat down in the only seat left, which happened to be across from Steve. Suddenly, he yelled, "PONYBOY MICHAEL CURTIS, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!!" I jumped when he yelled that because the only person that ever used my full name was Darry, mom, dad and maybe occasionally Soda. But that was it. I had even forgotten that Steve knew my middle name.

            "Wh-why am I in big trouble?" I asked him, sorta scared by now.

            "You are the sole reason that Evie broke-up with me. You are the only thing that stood in my way of having the best relationship ever with Evie. It was all you. _You!" he said quietly and dangerously. I shivered and slowly stood up, "Steve, I don't care if you hate me; I really don't. I don't care if you beat me up, I don't even care that you're my brother's best friend. __But I do care if you blame me for things that I DIDN'T DO!!!!" I screamed the last part. I'm sure Two-Bit, Soda, Darry or even Steve had ever seen me talk this much in the course of two days in front of the gang._

            "Don't tell me you didn't do something that you _did do!"_

            "I DIDN'T DO IT!!!!" I yelled. Steve looked like he was about to punch me. I flinched then said to Darry, "Dar, is it okay if I walk to school today?"

            "Uh…yeah…sure…" Darry answered uncertainly. I picked my books up and left the house with Steve boiling mad. Today was Thursday. I only needed to get through one more day of school after today and then the weekend would come…but then…there was the trip…on Monday.

            I was so close to tears, I had to beat it out of there. I took the short way to school, but I walked slowly. I walked even slower when I went near the lot we all used to hang-out in. The place where Johnny and I talked, where we would look at the stars. Johnny…Oh god, I missed him. If he were still there, he would have comforted me in the lot. And he would have told me to ignore Steve and not to let him get to me and he'd just always be there when I needed him.

            "I need you now, Johnny," I whispered as a tear slipped down my cheek. I sat down in this little corner of the lot where we would always be. I hadn't been to the lot in so long. Our football was still there where we last left it: underneath some shrubs beside the big tree I used to climb. 

            I'm not sure how long I sat there. I thought about all the good times Johnny and I shared. Like the time when we went to the movies on Saturday and saw _Gone With the Wind. And after the movie, he asked me to explain it to him. So we sat right here in this lot and I explained everything to him. Of course, I missed my curfew by 15 minutes, but when I told Darry, even __he let me off. That day was fun._

            And then there was this other time, when we went with Dally to the Nightly Double…and we met these chicks, they were even Socs, and Dally dirty talked them, but Johnny stood up for them…and told him to leave. And then Two-Bit came and we hung-out. That was tuff. And then I remember that very same night we sat right here in this lot and looked at the stars and dreamt about the country and fell asleep…

            But after that, I stopped remembering because that's when everything went wrong. I tried to keep from crying, but I couldn't. When I finally looked up into the sky, I knew it was around lunch time and that I had missed school. But I was too miserable remembering to care. 

            "Ponyboy, stop it," I told myself, "They're gone and you know it. So pick yourself up and go to school. Tell them you were sick or something. Do it. That's what Johnny would have wanted you to do." I told myself. I got up and looked back at the lot, "I'll be back, Johnny." I whispered, then left on a run for school.

            The secretary bought my story about being sick and all and I headed to my gym class, the class after lunch. Two-Bit was in my class and I knew that he would question me…but I would deal with that later. I passed Steve on the way…and he gave me another dirty look….the kind that I was used to getting from him by now. Sighing, I mumbled, "What the hell did I do now?" All I got was a punch in the face…

***cool! That was longer than I expected!!! I hope you guys all like it! I'm going to be away for awhile starting ****Friday, December 20, 2002**** okay? But I promise that I'll write while I'm on the plane, while I have any free time and anything. I'll upload it if I get access to the internet but if not, you'll all be hit with at least 2 chapters when I get back! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!***


	7. TwoBit: What The

Two-Bit: What The…

Thanks to everyone who reviewed my chapter…I would mention you guys except I'm in Utah and I don't have access to the internet at this moment. Sorry.

**Blatty: hehe….WAAAY too late to stop now…I'm positive you reviewed 'cause you always reviewed.**

            When Ponyboy walked into gym class twenty minutes late, I sighed in relief because I was really starting to worry. Ponyboy had _never_ been late to _any_ class, much less _twenty_ minutes late. I hoped he had at least a pass because Coach wasn't playing any games this week. I watched as the small 14 year old walked into the gym slowly, dragging his feet behind him and looking down. He gave the pass to the coach who told him to sit on the bench until next rotation in any of the volleyball games that were going on now. The kid looked up and I gasped. It was Ponyboy…only it wasn't really. Pony never got into fights in school, but this kid looked like someone had beat him up bad. After class I ran up to Pony in the locker room, "Hey, Ponyboy!" I said cheerily. Ponyboy looked up at me, "Oh, hey Two-Bit."

            "How come you were late to gym?"

            "I went to the nurse."    

            "Why'd you have to do that?"

            "Can't you see?" he snapped. I stepped back,

            "Sor-ry."

            "It's okay, I'm sorry." He mumbled quietly. I smiled at him, "What do you have next period?"

            "History, then lunch."

            "Okay, let's go then."

We started walking down into the long endless corridors and I was itching to ask Ponyboy who had beat him up so badly, but I saw that as a touchy subject so I stayed away from it. Instead I entertained myself with making both me and Pony laugh. 

            After school that day, I went with Steve down to the DX while Ponyboy went to track practice. Soda was there at the DX, like usual, talking to some girls who went to the private school nearby. They were giggling and not so subtlety flirting with Soda. Steve and I exchanged glances. Ever since Sandy left, Soda hadn't really been interested in any girls. He had always flirted back or entertained the girls' flirting, but he had never been interested. Except for this time. He was staring at the girl on the right. She had auburn hair and light eyes. We couldn't tell from the distance that we were standing from Soda, but she was a real looker, shy too. I was happy for Soda because if you asked me, it was about time he got over that stupid little broad, Sandy. She was supposedly in love with him like he was with her, but when the chance came to prove her love, she ran away (A/N: I have nothing against Sandy personally…she's a character). 

            "Hey, Sodapop!" Steve called from where we were standing. Soda looked up and grinned his crazy grin, "Hey, Steve! Hey Two-Bit!!" We walked over to the girls and Soda. There were three of them. The one on the left had strawberry blondish hair, the one in the middle was a pure blond and the one on the right was gonna end up as Soda's new girl if we had any say in it. Of course, she was interested in him too. They kept on glancing at each other, then quickly looking away.

            "Guys, this is Sarah," the strawberry blond one, "Bianca," the blond one, "and Teri," the auburn haired one, the one Soda had eyes for.

            "Sarah, Bianca, Teri, this is Steve and Two-Bit," he continued.

            "Hi!" they exclaimed, looking our way. We sat around talking for awhile, Soda and Steve occasionally getting up to serve a customer. After about an hour and a half, I saw Ponyboy walking past the DX without once looking our way. He was walking at a rapid pace. Last time I saw him at school, he was starting to look a little better, but not much.

            The three girls obviously knew Ponyboy because as soon as Teri saw him, she tapped Bianca and Sarah on the shoulders, whispering and pointing. I thought they were going to make fun of him because most middle-class girls do. He's not too big for age. I guess Soda thought so too because he looked a little let down glancing at the girls, pointing. But they didn't make fun of him at all. Instead they lit up, "Hey, Ponyboy!!" they shouted. Pony looked up slightly and I heard Soda gasp and Steve make a funny noise. But the girls didn't notice a thing. They ran over to him and he obviously knew them too because his face lit up into a smile when he saw them, "Hey Sarah, Teri, Bianca!" They hugged him and dragged him back to where we were sitting.

            "You know Ponyboy?" Soda asked, confused.

            "Of course we know Ponyboy!" Bianca exclaimed.

            "How?" I spoke what Soda and Steve were thinking as well.

            "Well," Sarah started, "us private school girls always head down to the high school to watch the track meets and _everyone_ at the Tulsa Academy knows that Pony is a star runner."

            "Plus he helped us with a few projects at the park the other week!" Bianca said.

            "And we hung-out a few times after school when there was no practice." Ponyboy added quietly. We all looked over to him. I had almost forgotten he was there. I always forget that Pony's there. Even before the whole Windrixville incident, he was a quiet kid, but we always knew he was there because he would always be speaking on Johnny's behalf. But after Johnny died, Pony's had no one to speak up for. Either that, or he was just in a state of not talking because of Johnny and Dally's death. I don't know what it was…but it was like Ponyboy was a ghost. We never noticed he was there. 

            I tuned back into the conversation. Soda was already giving Pony the third degree on the new bruises on his face. I sighed and looked over at the girls who were staring at Soda with admiration. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

**Okay, I know romance was _not_ part of this story but I just went with the flow and it's really only going to involve Soda, not Pony, and Soda isn't really in the latter part of the story. So anyway…REVIEW PLEASE!!!!**


	8. Soda: Giving the Third Degree Isn't Easy

Soda: Giving Third-Degree Isn't Easy

Okay…On the plane now. Did I ever tell you how much I absolutely despise planes? I can't stand them. Not to mention that I am sooo cramped. Well anyway…here's the next chapter!

            Teri was really cute, not to mention nice, sweet and funny too. She was such a relief. And I really thought that I was ready to move on and meet new people. I couldn't mope over Sandy forever, you know. The only thing I was really afraid of was getting hurt again. I made sure I didn't attach myself to Teri too quickly. But I figured that she was okay when Ponyboy walked by and she knew him. He looked cool with her so I thought, 'She's definitely not immature or snotty.'

            When Pony looked up, though, I had a whole new thing to worry about. His face was purplish reddish. I gasped. Obviously, someone had beaten my brother up miserably.

            "Ponyboy Curtis! What did you do to yourself?" I asked him once the girls brought him over. Pony looked at me, then at Two-bit, then at Steve. Finally, he shrugged, "Nothing. I got into a fight at school."

            "With who? Darry's gonna kill you as soon as he bandages you up and quits worrying."

            "With…With…a bully." He muttered the last part. I looked over to Steve and Two-Bit, "Did you guys know about this?" Reluctantly, Steve shook his head, but Two-Bit nodded, "Yeah. I saw him in gym. He came in late. Sorry I didn't tell you Soda."

            "It's okay, but don't you have gym in the beginning of the day?"

            "Yeah, two periods before lunch."

            "Pony," I turned towards my younger brother, "who did this to you?"

            "Uh…this guy…at school…he's…he's big. And mean. He likes to…push people around a lot."

            "What's his name?"

            "Ste- Stevenson. Yeah, that's his name."

            "Stevenson? What kinda name is that?" Two-Bit asked incredulously.

            "Uh…that's his last name. We call people by their last names mostly in my grade…yeah." He stumbled. I knew that he was lying, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Not when the three girls were around. I looked over at them, suddenly remembering that they were still there. They were giggling as if that was the cutest thing in the world. Sighing, I let it go.

            "So do people call you Curtis?" Two-Bit asked Pony curiously. Pony nodded slightly, "Sometimes. Other times it's 'Hey! Kid grease!' that's what the other greasers call me. Socs call me 'dirty hood' for the girls and 'bum' for the guys. The middle class calls me 'that smart kid' or 'Soda's kid brother'." 

            "Wow, you have a lot names don't you?" Teri asked amusedly.

            "But why would they call you a bum? I don't get it. You're not a bum," Sarah started. But Pony cut her off,

            "Yeah I am. Come to my school and you'll find out how much of a bum I really am."

Bianca rolled her eyes, "Socs are so over-rated. I mean, they really aren't that different from the rest of us. In fact, I think all of you greasers have more personality that any Soc any day!" 

Pony blushed, "Thanks. Uh, I gotta go home. I have a history test tomorrow. And I guess I better start packing for the school trip thing…" he trailed off and walked away.

            "PONYBOY! WE'RE NOT DONE TALKING ABOUT THOSE BRUISES!" I yelled after him. He didn't turn around. I sighed again and turned back to the girls and the fellas. 

            Work dragged out that day. The customers were coming in slow and I was really anxious to get home before Darry. I prayed that I would be home before Darry so that I could get the real scoop on what happened to Pony that day in school. I knew that even though Pony knew that Darry loved him and cared about him a lot, he still shied away from telling Darry the whole story, leaving out little details…like who the _real_ person who beat him up was. Finally the little hand rolled around to the five on the clock and I jumped out of my chair, signing out, and while running out the door, yelling good-bye to Steve. 

            Closing the door behind me when I reached my house, I looked around. Ponyboy was nowhere to be found. Where was he? I started panicking and thought of calling Darry. I had almost finished dialing the roofing number, but figured that I shouldn't bother Darry when Pony was probably at the library or something studying for his test.

            "Yeah, that's it. He's just at the library studying. He'll be back soon," I told myself. Just then I spotted the mail on the kitchen table. I sat down to look at it and found a note from Ponyboy:

            Soda and Darry,

Don't worry about me. I just finished my homework. I'm at the lot and I promise to be back for dinner and in time to start getting ready for the trip like I promised I'd do. Don't worry.

            Ponyboy

The lot? What would Pony be doing at the lot? What was there at the lot anyway? We hadn't been there since…Johnny and Dally died. I scribbled another note for Darry and flew out the door heading for the lot.

**Still on the plane. Ooo! BRADY BUNCH IS ON EVERYONE!! BEST SHOW EVER!!! I'll write as the show goes on commercial. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Ponyboy: Telling the Truth

Ponyboy: Telling the Truth

            When I got home from the DX Station, I did my homework right away. As soon as I finished I headed towards the lot, leaving a note for Soda and Darry. I plopped down into the spot where I was that morning and thought. What if something happened to me when I was out there in the mountains with Steve? What if I went there…but never came back? 

            "No, that wouldn't happen, Ponyboy. Your imagination is running wild again," I scolded myself. I found that I scolded myself a lot lately. Sighing, I slapped my face into my knees, harder than I wanted to. The bruise on my face throbbed with pain as soon as I did that. Wincing, I sat up again. Why did everything have to be so hard now that Johnny and Dally were gone? Before they died, both Steve and I could still stand each other. It was really Darry that I had a problem with. Steve was just there…he never really popped out at me before. Now that things were solved between Darry and I and two of my best friends ever died, Steve Randle jumped out at me like he never did before. It was like all of the sudden, he irritated me more than anything in the world. I had tried reasoning with myself, telling myself that I wasn't being fair, but that only led to more frustration and anger towards Steve Randle. Stopping myself before I worked myself up, I asked out loud, "What would Johnny and Dally say?" For some reason, I had grown closer to Dally during the whole Windrixville situation. 

            "Calm down, Pony. You'll be alright. Just think: once you get through the five days with Steve, you'll be back here and we can sit here under the stars again. It'll be alright Pony, it'll be alright," Johnny's voice echoed through my mind followed by Dally's, "Kid, if that Steve Randle's givin' you any trouble, just tell him to get the hell away from you. Damnit, Ponyboy, get smart and tell him off. Don't let some punk push you around." 

            Tears stung my eyes as I pictured Johnny's scared, gentle puppy features of a boy and Dally's mean, tough hoodlum features of a tough greaser. I blinked once, twice, then three times, trying to keep the tears from falling down my cheeks. I missed them so much, but I thought that I had gotten over that; I thought that I had moved on from it and continued to live. But the truth was, I was still moping and feeling sorry for myself. As hard as I tried though, I couldn't stop from doing that. My brain was telling me to stop because I couldn't just stop living at the death of friends, but my heart wasn't listening. I wanted to kick myself when I realized there were tears like waterfalls flowing down my face. 

            "Pony?" a voice asked me from behind me. I jumped, "What?" I asked quickly wiping the tears away from my eyes and turning around. It was Soda. 

            "I got your note."

            "O-Oh…What are you doing here?"

            "I was just wondering what you were doing at the lot. None of us come here anymore."

            "I come here to think…about things."

            "About who gave you those bruises, huh?" Soda asked, with only a little humor in his voice. I looked up at him, startled, "Uh…no. Whatever gave you _that_ idea?"

            "Because I can see right through you and I know for a fact that you were lying at the DX today."

I looked back down again, "I told you it was Stevenson."

            "Who was Stevenson?" We both looked up to see Darry standing there with a concerned look on his face. When he saw my face, Darry's eyes widened, "Ponyboy…what happened to your face?!" 

            "Got into a fight," I mumbled.

            "With…_Stevenson…" Soda finished, stressing the Steve in Stevenson. Darry got it immediately, "Ponyboy, who was it and don't go bullshitting me, ya hear?"_

I was so startled at Darry using a swear word (he doesn't use swear words very often…usually that's Steve or Two-Bit) that I stuttered, "It…It…It was Steve."

            "Steve _Randle?" Darry asked while Soda wasn't surprised at all. _

            "No, Steve Stevenson!" I practically snapped at him. Darry and Soda backed off for a minute, talking in hushed voices. I rolled my eyes and turned away from them watching the sun lower over the horizon. 

I wondered if I would ever get the chance to see the sunset or the sunrise like I did in Windrixville. Where I could see the mist grazing over the view, as if brushing past the sun. Johnny really liked that sunset. It was the first real one that he'd ever really seen. He…he'd asked me to tell Dally to look at the sunset too. He told me that maybe if Dally watched the sunset, he wouldn't be so bitter about everything. 'If I had gotten Dally to watch a sunset…Maybe he wouldn't be dead right now.' I thought, frustrated, banging my fist into the dirt. Soda and Darry jumped and looked over at me, but I paid no attention though. My favorite part of the sunset was coming on now. When the sun was almost out of disappearance and all you could see were the colors radiating off of the sun and into the night sky like a final nightlight for the world before they had to go to sleep. 

            "Ponyboy?" I heard on of my brothers ask.

            "Hmm?" I responded absent-mindly. Soda sat next to me, "Uh…what are you doing?" Finally, I turned to look at him, finding it hard to tear my eyes away from a beautiful sight, "Watching the sunset. This is the best part. Its right before the sun disappears below the horizon. Look at all the colors and how they reflect into the sky. Look at how it brightens up the sky before it goes completely dark," I murmured to both my brothers, who were now staring into the sky. 

            We sat in a comfortable silence for awhile, watching together and taking in everything around us before the day was over. I heard Soda beside me, "Whoa…" he breathed once it was over.

            "That was amazing…" Darry agreed. I looked at them amusedly. Sunsets were always here. Every night they could of watched them and they had never ever noticed it before? I found that funny and unbelievable. 

            "So this is what you do when you're supposed to be taking out the garbage!" Darry exclaimed. I nodded sheepishly, "Yeah. I saw an even better sunrise in Windrixville with Johnny," surprisingly, I didn't choke on his name like I usually did, "He was amazed by it. His reaction was something like yours…maybe a bit less exaggerated. He loved it and he was looking forward to seeing more with me back here in Tulsa. In the hospital…in the hospital before he…before he died," I had a lot of trouble getting this out. I hadn't told _anyone about this, "Before he died…he wrote a note to me and stuck it into the __Gone with the Wind book that he was really getting into. Johnny asked me to show Dally a sunset…but…but it's too late. I can't help but wonder…if I did show Dally a sunset…would he have targeted himself to be shot?" by this time, tears were running down my cheeks. I hadn't realized how much this hurt for me to say it out loud. I had always been able to think it without tearing…but I never thought saying it out loud was going to be this hard._

            I felt an arm around my shoulder and a hand in my hair. My brothers were trying to comfort me and by the way they were handling the situation, they knew how much it hurt for me. I was so glad that I had Soda and Darry there for me. I was so glad that they understood. We sat in another comfortable silence. Darry finally got up, "Come on, little buddy. We gotta help you get ready for the trip." 

            Slowly, I got up. I had forgotten about the trip. But now I remembered. I didn't want to remember, but I had to face the facts. After this weekend, I had to spend an entire five days with Steve Randle, who hated me…and who I hated back.

***So what do you think? Strong? Weak? What do you think on Ponyboy's part? Is it too deep for him??? REVIEW PLEASE!! Don't worry the trip is coming up next chapter…or the one after.* **


	10. Soda: GoodBye and Be Careful

**Soda: Good-Bye and Be Careful**

**Typical Disclaimer…I'm not even going to bother writing it.**

**Thanks to (name people who have reviewed)**

            Over the weekend, I started noticing the weirdest things about things I've never even thought about before. Like how pretty the colors of the flowers were on Mrs. Matthews' front lawn. Or the way the color of the sky was a little different when I got up to go to work than when I came home every night. On Sunday, I finally caught myself, "Soda, what are you doing?" I asked myself. This was Ponyboy's turf and I never was too interested in it. I just listened to him ramble about it because I knew it made him feel better. Now I was actually getting into it!         Monday morning rolled around and I found myself lugging Pony's camp packs to the car. Before we left to get Steve, I pulled Pony to the side, "Listen. Whatever happens, be careful and look out for yourself.  Try and get along with Steve okay? When you get back, I think the three of us need to have a serious talk."

             He nodded and said, "I promise." Smiling and relaxing a little bit, I threw his back- pack into the trunk. We were off to the school. 

            "Mornin' Curtis's!" Two-Bit yelled cheerily. Personally, I like Two-Bit a lot, but hearing that cheerful voice so loud in the early hours of the morning was kind of startling. 

            "Morning," we muttered back to him. Pony saw his friends from school and left to go talk to them. I took this time to watch Pony's school friends. They were all middle class kids and they didn't seem to mind having Pony around. It might have been because he was so much younger than them. It might have been because of his vulnerable, "sweet" looks. Looking away when Ponyboy looked up and came up to us with his friends, I saw Steve. 

            "Hey, guys. These are my friends. This is Ben, Jake, Kathy, and Jake and Kathy's younger sister Leslie," Ponyboy introduced his friends. They all waved and Kathy looked shyly towards Steve.

            "Hey…Steve," Ponyboy looked over at Steve. I guess he was trying to keep his promise and be decent towards Steve. Steve looked taken aback, probably not expecting Pony to be so nice, "Uh…hey, Ponyboy."

            "Are you Steve Randle?" Kathy asked quietly. 

Steve looked down at her and nodded, "Yeah."            

            "My sister talks about you all the time," Leslie giggled. She was five.

            "Really?" Steve grinned.

            "Yeah. She loves you…but don't tell her I told you. She'll kill us," Leslie continued while Jake laughed. I heard Ponyboy say that Kathy "fell in love" with almost every single guy that she saw.

            "Really? Now, who's your sister?"

            "I …don't know if you should tell them that, Leslie," Kathy blushed violently. I laughed. No I knew that Steve couldn't ever complain and say that no girl's liked him before.

            "What group are you guys in?" Steve asked Pony's friends.

            "Tree-huggers!" Ben high-fived Two-Bit. 

            "The Summits," Jake and Kathy said together.

            "Oh, you're with them?" Soda asked them. They nodded in response.

            "Yeah, we can't wait to go. It'll be fun!" Jake exclaimed. Kathy rolled her eyes, "Fun for _you maybe. Me on the other hand, no." Pony laughed, _

            "C'mon, Kathy! It's not that bad!"

            "Yeah, well that's because you've got Steve," she started, "But all I've got is this little idiot whose _supposed to be my brother!" _

Ponyboy looked uncomfortablely over to Steve and nodded slowly. I could tell he was thinking "Sure…Steve…" But he didn't say anything and neither did Steve which was a total relief for all of us. When I turned back into the conversation, Darry was already giving Ponyboy the "Be careful and be responsible" lecture. I pulled Steve aside.

            "Steve, I know that things haven't been going great for the past few days and that you and Pony don't get along. But just do me this favor and look out for him…" I trailed off not wanting to complete my thought.

            "Don't worry about it, Soda. Pony's fourteen, I'm sure he can take care of himself. It's not like he's two or something," Steve mocked.

            "I know, I know. But just say that you will so that I'm assured that whatever you guys do…"

            "We won't be killing each other. I know, Soda, I know. I've gotten that lecture from just about everybody today."

            "Everybody?"

            "Yeah. My mom gave it to me, although she doesn't even know half of what's going on. Two-Bit told me that if either of us came back with more than our share of scrapes, bruises, or whatever else, he'd beat both of us in. Darry just told me to be careful and be smart out there. Even Evie called last night to threaten getting her brother to beat me to a pulp if I didn't 'stop with the child abuse'."

            "Evie? Evie gave you a lecture? Are you back together?"

            "I'm not really sure. She hung-up on me," Steve shot back sarcastically. I shrugged, "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

            "It's okay," he sighed, "It's just that I thought we had something real special, you know?"

            "Yeah…I thought I had that with Sandy, but I guess not."          

            "Don't you have the hots for that other girl? Tara or something?"

            "Teri. She's really nice. I hope something can develop from our talking to each other…but I want to try and take it slower than I did with Sandy. I don't want to be hurt…"

            "Again." Steve finished for me. Yeah, I liked Teri all right. It was just that I didn't want to rush things because if I learned anything from Sandy's harsh break-up with me, it was that I had to get to know the girl before I jumped into anything serious with her.

            "STUDENTS PLEASE GET TO YOUR RESPECTIVE BUSES! WE'LL BE LEAVING IN APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES!" a teacher yelled. We all walked Two-Bit and Ben over to the Tree-hugger's bus, which was the first in line. Jake, Kathy, Steve, and Ponyboy said a good-bye to Two-Bit. As Pony passed by Two-Bit, I heard Two-Bit mutter, "Take care, kid. Don't get yourself into any trouble…if you know what I mean." He said the same as Steve passed by. They both gave him a strange look and then turned towards Ben, saying good-bye. I waved to Two-Bit before going off to find the Summit bus. It didn't take too long to find it though because it was only one or two buses away. 

            "Bye, Steve. Take care and don't get naughty up there in the snow!" I called out to him. Steve threw me a smile and yelled back, "Yeah? Well don't _you get naughty down here in Tulsa!" We laughed and he rolled his eyes, turning to talk to Randy, a Soc that, surprisingly, wasn't with other Socs. _

            I walked up to my little brother, "Bye, Ponyboy. Take care, kid. And remember, be careful and have a hell of a good time!" I ruffled his hair. Pony looked up at me and smiled, "Sure, Soda. Thanks. See ya in five days."

            "See ya." I hugged him and walked back to Two-Bit's bus to say good-bye to him. Darry was giving Pony another lecture. I rolled my eyes and walked away, smiling. 

            'Things'll work out just fine.' I told myself, laughing at Two-Bit's joke. Boy, if I had only known how lonely it would be in the house and at the DX without everyone else there…

***How was that? Sorry, it took me awhile to update it…I got the lead in my school play! So I have to rehearse a lot and my parents want me to keep an A average at school too so I'm studying a lot…sigh…well anyways I'll try and update soon!***


	11. Steve: Another Long Day

**Steve: Another Long Day**

***Oh yeah, and Burnin' Church Gal: Like I said before, Steve'll get mean. But you know…after sometime…as the story comes to a close…I think he and Pony are in for something unexpected…Steve and Pony wise…***

***Thanks to Stormy 1x2, Burnin' Church Gal (of course), Blatty (even though she didn't review it. It's just for the sake of the chain. I feel wrong not continuing it…hehe), Chase M. Dakota, and Ruth! Thanks for reviewing you guys!!! I feel so loved…people are reading and actually enjoying this!!***

            The bus started moving. I knew I was really in for it now. I was going up into the mountains. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I had a little tagalong that I had to "watch out for". Like hell I would. He was 14 freaking years old. It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself. I slumped lower into my seat. This was just great. It was like nobody even _cared _about what I felt like. 

            "Steve?" Ponyboy asked me from two seats over. 

            "What?" I snapped, trying to block his voice out.

            "Um…never mind…" he turned away. Well at least _he _had friends on this thing. I had nobody, nobody at all. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if Ponyboy weren't on this trip. He still had the countless amounts of bruises on his face from me and personally…I was kinda proud of it. It was like I had justified my feelings and I had finally declared it as a fact that I hated that kid. He was such a baby. Always running to Soda or Darry when something didn't go his way. 

            After a very long four hours up to the mountains, we finally got there. I stood up immediately, just itching to get off of the bus. When I stepped off of the bus, relieved for the fresh air, I also got a nasty wet shock. There was snow on the ground. Snow that went up my jeans leg. It was cold and it sure woke me up. I jumped up and hopped over to the side of the bus where they were unloading bags. Ponyboy stood there with his friends, laughing and pointing at me. I glared at them and they shrunk back. 

            "Okay! We'll be splitting up in the next few days. This is to get your grade. It will be counted as a semester grade for what you have accomplished here. There will be five activities, one each day. You have to be able to get at least three out of the five done correctly and cooperatively with the person assigned to be your partner. Understood?" the teacher supervisor asked us. Everyone mumbled a sleepy "yes". I looked around at the people in our group. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know half of them. 

            "Uh, I have a question!" Randy the Soc raised his hand.

            "Yes?" the teacher asked.

            "Are we allowed to sleep in whatever tents you want to sleep in?"

            "Well, this group will be split into groups of six to be roomed. The person you are working with for these activities will be one of the five, but since you all gave us lists of people you might want to be with, at least one of those will be in there as well."

I tried to think back to who I put onto my list. I remembered writing Randy and Cherry on because they were the only people I knew there other than Ponyboy. And I definitely wouldn't want to "room" with _him. _

            "When do we find out?"

            "Now. Let's see…I'll start out with the tents. In Tent 1, Jake, Henry, Nancy, Harriett, Greg and Rachel. In Tent 2, Sherry, Ponyboy, Randy, Isabelle, Steve, and Dana. In Tent 3, Kathy…" he droned on and on. I glared at Ponyboy again. Why did the kid just have to pick Cherry and Randy too? I mean, it wasn't like those were his only friends! And why did they have to put him with me?! "Man, things will always turn out right for a greaser these days huh?" I muttered to myself. Ponyboy turned towards me, 

            "Yeah, well this ain't no picnic for me either, Steve."

            "Shut up. I wasn't even talking to you."

            "Yeah? I never said I was talking to you!"

            "You wanna make something outta it?"

            "What if I do?"

            "Well come one then. Right here, right now."

            "Alright."

            "Alright."

We were just about to swing at each other when the teacher spotted us, "Boys? Is there a problem?" We both shook our heads, "No."

            "Good. Now for the group activities. Harriet and Jake, Dana and Randy, Kathy and Ian, Sherry and Isabelle, Ponyboy and Steve…" and he droned on and on and on. I felt like slamming my fist into the bus behind us. Why the hell was he everywhere with me? 

            "Is this a punishment for stealing those hubcaps last week?" I whispered quietly to myself. I looked over to Ponyboy, who was groaning and moaning in spite of himself. He looked over at me and he had this ice cold look in his eyes. "Totally matches the scene…" I muttered to myself again. I was going to be talking to myself a lot for the next week. 

            Our "dinner" was baked beans and filet fish that the teachers caught while ice fishing or something. Everyone was happily eating and talking to each other. I just sat there eating, but not tasting. Hearing, but not listening. Just like the rest of my life, this was miserable. The one week that I was actually away from that bastard of a dad, I was stuck here with Ponyboy Curtis. This, in many ways, would actually end up being even worse than my dad for me. Of course, for Ponyboy, it was miserable coming here anyway because he'd have to leave his home. He'd have to spend a whole five days away from Soda and Darry. 'Steve, you're being unfair.' I told myself, 'What about Windrixville?' my good conscious asked me. The other side…the bad conscious I guess said 'What about it? He was barely able to survive that.'

            'But didn't you get lonely without someone to be mad at? If I re-call correctly, you missed him too.' The angel part said.

            'Yeah because Soda was so upset.' The devil snapped back.

            'You were worried too when he passed out in the lot after Dally died!'  

            'Right…because it was a very emotional time for all of us!'

            'YOU'RE MAKING EXCUSES!'

            'YOU'RE MAKING UP STORIES!!'

I sighed, shaking my head. Was I going crazy? Why was I even listening to these stupid voices in my head? Devil and angel in my head…ha! This trip really _was_ making me go crazy! Everyone knew that there weren't _really _voices in your head. Were there? "Okay, okay. Steve, you're just freaking yourself out. It's probably just you not being used to being up here without any friends. That's all." I muttered to myself. That's it. That's what it was. I wasn't going crazy; it was just that I wasn't accustomed to this yet. I calmed down, laughed at myself, then quickly finished the dinner. 

            "Lights out at 10 PM no later, ya hear?!" another teacher suddenly called out. 10? That was practically impossible for me to do. That was way too early. Apparently the other kids thought so too because I heard snickers and saw eyes rolling. So maybe I wasn't the only one who planned to sneak out after lights out. But when I went into the tent in time for lights out and plopped down onto the nice warm sleeping bag, I realized how sleepy I was. By the time the teachers left, I was fast asleep as was everyone else. Little did I know that I'd need all the energy for the next few days to come…

*I'm sorry this is such a boring chapter. It's just that I need this one to be able for you to understand the latter ones. More soon!*


	12. Ponyboy: The Beginning of Life as Living...

**Ponyboy: The Beginning of Life as Livng Hell**

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***Thanks to all who reviewed! **

**Blatty: YOU'RE BACK!!! I was getting worried here. I thought you really DID drop off the face of the earth! But you're back!! YAY!!!**

            When I found out that I was in Steve's group for everything, all my hope for anything good out of this trip totally vanished right before my eyes. It was like I had nothing to hope for anymore. Nothing worked…I couldn't get away from him! Dropping down into the sleeping bag of my tent (that I shared with Steve as well), I lay there staring at the top of the tent. I heard Steve come in and pretended to be asleep. He dropped (literally) onto the sleeping bag and two seconds later, I heard easy breathing coming from him. I sleepily thought that maybe I should take my shoes off, but didn't have much of a chance to take that thought any further because I fell asleep immediately after that. 

            I woke with a start and looked at my watch. It was only 4:30 in the morning and I knew I probably should sleep. But I couldn't. Maybe it was homesickness or maybe it was this weird feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. Whatever it was, I couldn't shake it. Trying to fall asleep again, I counted sheep, but that never worked and I knew it for a fact. Finally, after an hour of tossing and turning, I fell into a very uneasy sleep.

            "EVERYONE UP!!!" the loud and shrill sound of Mrs. Penning's voice called out only a short two hours of rest. I groaned and sat up slowly, only to lie back down as Cherry rushed to pull a sweatshirt over her head. Randy shook me gently, "Pony come on. We gotta be ready in half an hour. Breakfast and everything." I sat up again and looked at Randy tiredly. He sighed and left to get changed as Cherry, Isabelle, and Dana stepped outside to wait for us to get changed. I knew I had to get out there soon so that the girls could change so I pulled sweatpants on then my snow pants that were really Soda's, then a sweatshirt over my head. I put a coat on and stepped outside. Not surprisingly, I was the last guy out there before the girls all rushed in to change. 

            At breakfast, they served us bacon, eggs, and oatmeal. I wasn't hungry at all so I pushed around the food until Coach Tyson came over, "Curtis, what's wrong?"

            "N-nothing, Coach," his loud booming voice wasn't pleasant to hear in those early morning hours. 

            "Well eat up then. We can't have our star runner miss out this first day. I think you'll like this first day, Curtis. Your partner needs you." Yeah, right. Him needing me? That would be the day. Steve wouldn't be happier if I had just dropped off the face of the earth. I slowly ate the bacon and oatmeal but I didn't dare touch the eggs. I knew my stomach wouldn't like that since it protested even after the last bite of oatmeal. 

            "Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Our first day will be our first activity. Today we'll be doing steppingstone sprints." Coach yelled. Steve and many others groaned, but I didn't really care. Sprinting was my thing and coach was right. I _was going to have fun today. Boy, if I had only known…_

            After breakfast, Coach started us on setting everything up. First the teachers were on the other side of the bank and had set up our "steppingstones" that we would later have to sprint across. They were shaky and we had a chance of falling in, but that's why our partner and the teachers each had a rope that connected with the person crossing. We had to tie the rope in a certain knot at one end on a rock or branch nearby. Then we had to throw it across to the teachers and do that with another rope. We had to then start thinking of the position the one partner would be in to ensure the safety of the other. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

            "That branch looks good," Steve muttered, although he _did seem to be in a better mood than he was in the day before._

            "No, it's too thin. The roe will snap it if we have our weight pulling on it." I regretted saying that immediately because Steve's face contracted into a mix of restraint and anger. I flinched, thinking that if he got mad enough, maybe he'd punch me right then and then kill me and then he wouldn't have to deal with me and I wouldn't have to be so scared of him all the time. 

            "Then do you have a better idea, smarty?" He glared at me instead, balling up his fists. I looked around. We'd wasted so much time staring and arguing that there wasn't really any other choice but to take the flimsy branch/twig that Steve suggested in the first place. I sighed, "No. Fine. You tie the knot while I throw this end to the teacher."

            "No, why do _I _have to tie it? Besides, if _you throw it over, you'll probably miss."_

            "I will not. Just because I don't play baseball or basketball or anything doesn't mean I can't throw!! Running works out your arms too!" I yelled back. It was true. Pumping your arms as a warm-up was something Coach made us do a lot. Also, before the first meets, he always made us lift weights or something at the gym at least once a week.

            "Yeah, you will!" The teacher saw us arguing and came over, "Is there a problem, boys?"

            "No," we both answered instantly. There was definitely no need to get a teacher involved in this. He walked away and finally, Steve and I got into such a huge shoving match that the teachers had to break it up and tell us to work or fail. We glared at each other and somehow got the work done. During lunch, he told me that I had to go first. I rolled my eyes, "What makes you think that I'm gonna listen to you?" I shot back at him. All the kids looked curiously over at us, since I'm sure that they knew we hated each other by then. 

            "Because I'm sure you wanna pass. I'm sure that perfect little Ponyboy Curtis doesn't want a failing grade on his perfect little record." He sneered at me. Did I ever tell you how much I absolutely _hate_ Steve? I sighed. He won. Of course, when did Steve ever lose in an argument with _me? Yeah, that's what I thought. Never._

            After lunch, everyone got ready to cross the river. I had to go first because Steve said so. Tying to rope around my waist, I thought about what might happen if the branch snapped? "Curtis, Randle!" Coach called from across the river. We nodded at him, me more apprehensive than Steve, and I started across. I sprinted two steps and nothing happened. I thought, 'Okay. Nothing bad yet. Just go a few more steps and you'll be there.' Few was an understatement. By the time I reached the midway point, I felt a snap and my last thoughts were 'Oh no…' and I plunged underneath the cold and icy water…

***Did you like that? Was that expected to happen? I don't really even know what's going to happen in these next few chapters…I'm making it up as I go along. But do you like it?!?!***


	13. Ponyboy: Not Done Yet

**Ponyboy: Not Done Yet**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

**Thanks to all who reviewed!!**

            For moments there, I felt like I was going to drown and never see the surface again. Even as I kicked my legs and tried to swim for the surface, I felt my lungs burning. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I saw a light in the distance. The surface! I had always thought the stupid lines in books about seeing the light from a long distance was just stupid. But now I knew exactly what those people felt. I submerged into the cold icy air of the mountains and breathed. Cherry threw her end of her rope out to me and I pulled on it. She and Randy both pulled until I was safely back where I started. It took a few minutes, but finally, I finished panting and the choking feeling was gone.

            "Are you alright, Pony?" Randy kneeled down next to me.

            "Yeah…j-just c-c-cold…" I shivered. Steve took off his jacket and let me wear it. He looked genuinely worried about me, which was kind of surprising, especially since he purposely made me go first. But I was too tired and cold to care or protest anymore. Steve's kindness and generosity didn't last too long, though. By the end of the day, we'd argued so much that we never got even one person across the river. Needless to say, we failed that assignment.

            Let's just say the next few assignments over the days weren't pretty either. We failed all of them and each of us went to sleep each night with at least one bruise, caused by the other. The last we were spending there wasn't that great, although I couldn't wait to go home. Coach came over to me, towing a scowling Steve behind him.

            "Curtis, we need to talk." He'd said. 

            "W-we do?" 

            "Yes. Randle and you need to have a chat with me." I sighed and got up from the table, mumbling a "see ya later" to Cherry and Randy. Coach led us over to an empty table and told us to sit next to each other.

            "I've been watching the two of you. You don't seem to get along very well."

            "Oh, you just noticed?" Steve muttered sarcastically.

            "Randle…"

            "Sorry."            

            "Anyway, you've failed all of the assignments here. There's one more tomorrow and we're going home. Now, the one tomorrow is big. You're grades are in jeopardy here. The teachers and I have been talking about it and we've decided that if you pass tomorrow, we'll pass you with a C, alright?"

            "Fine…" we muttered. 

            "Good." Coach got up and left. As soon as his back was turned, Steve glared at me. I glared right back at him and said, "This is all your fault, Steve."

            "MY fault? How is this MY fault? I'm not the one who couldn't figure out the difference between an oak tree and an evergreen tree!"

            "If you had given me the book, _maybe_ I would have gotten it. And what is your problem anyway? Ever hear of TEAM WORK? Guess not, since you're so bad at it. Oh yeah, and what about the stepping stones thing? Huh? You were the one who suggested that stupid string of a stick!!"

            "IF YOU HAD LISTENED TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE, NONE OF IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!"

            "No…If _you had listened to __me, none of this crap would be happening now. So don't fuckin' blame me for your fuckin' stupidity!"_

            "Ponyboy, you ain't got a right to call me stupid. Who was the one that ran too slow, failing our assignment yesterday? I thought you were supposed to be a good runner!!"

            "Excuse me, but what about the 'Sleigh Extravaganza'? You're the one that told me that sleighs were like cars and messed everything up! I thought _you were supposed to be the best auto-mechanic around!!!" Before Steve could come up with an equally nasty comment, the whistle blew, signaling lights out. It didn't matter. I hated him and he hated me. Soon, the trip would be over and I could go back to life the way it was before. I could go back to starting my new routine of sitting in the lot and talking to Johnny and Dally. _

            I lay on my sleeping bag that night, thinking about Johnny and Dally. I wished that they were here. I wished with all my might. I eventually fell asleep. But I didn't sleep well…

_*Dream*_

_            Johnny appeared out of nowhere, "Ponyboy…"_

_            "Johnny?!" I shot up._

_            "Yeah it's me…Listen to me. Listen. Something bad's going to happen. I'm not allowed to tell you what…"_

_            "Johnny, what are you talking about? Where's Dally?"       _

_            "I'm right here kid," Dally appeared behind me. They were floating, like ghosts, only they were so real. Pony reached out, but when his hand touched Dally's, it went right through._

_            "You can't touch us. We're ghosts of our former selves, Pony," Dally said softly. I bit my lip and smiled, "It's good to see y'all."_

_            "Yeah…we missed you Pony. How's it going with Steve anyway?"_

_            "We hate each other more than ever before." I stated bitterly.  Dally squeezed his eyes shut. Johnny spoke up, "Listen Ponyboy. Something awful's going to happen. You have to make sure both Steve and you are safe. You have to make sure you don't end up like me n' Dally did."_

_            "Yeah, kid. It don't hurt no more up here, but all the same. Y'all got a lot to live for, 'specially you n' Steve. You're the most educated in everything, the both of ya. You could change things for Greasers everywhere."_

_            "But-but…how?"_

_            "Pony, you gotta watch out. Be careful…something awful-" Johnny started again, but I interrupted, "What's going to happen?"_

_            "We're not allowed to tell you. This is out of our control. We can't stop it from happening." Dally pleaded with me._

_            "What's going to happen? Dally? Johnny?" I panicked._

_            "Just be careful. Look out for Steve. Things'll turn out alright. He needs you now more than ever." Dally told me._

_            "Yeah. And when you get back home, come talk to us in the lot more often. We missed havin' y'all around. Tell the guys that it's okay to hang-out in the lot even though we're gone. We want you to go on and pretend nothing ever happened. Encourage them, Pony." Johnny practically begged me. _

_            "Okay, I promise."_

_            "We have to go now…"_

_            "But you can't. I need you guys. I miss you too much," Tears sprung to my eyes, "Don't leave me!"_

_            "We're not leavin' you kiddo. We'll always be with you. In here…" Dally pointed to my chest, around where my heart was. Dally looked at Johnny sadly and they both said at the same time, "Bye Pony. We miss you…" and drifted away…_

            I shot up in a cold sweat. What did they mean? And had Johnny "talked" some sense into Dally and made him softer now? I gulped in some air and tossed and turned for the rest of the night, barely getting for than three hours of sleep.

***See ya in the next chapter! And thanks for all your great reviews!***


	14. Steve: The Final Point Lost

**Steve: The Final Point Lost**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in here**

***WHOO!!! SECOND CHAPTER TODAY!!!***

            When Ponyboy went under and hadn't resurfaced yet, I got scared, to tell you the truth. I didn't want to go home and face Soda saying that his kid brother drowned because I picked a twig too thin. Not to mention picturing what Darry would do to me. And I guess I was a little worried. Just a little tiny bit. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding when I saw his head pop up and surface. I watched as Randy and Cherry pulled him to safety back on my side of the little stream. Without thinking, I handed him my jacket. He looked as if he were about to freeze to death. Our peace with each other lasted all of five minutes. As soon as he'd been warmed up in the tent, my anger flared again. The next few days weren't exactly paradise either. We fought at every possible chance and needless to say, we failed.

            On our last night there, the gym teacher (I guess Pony's track coach) pulled us both aside during dinner. He gave us this crap about our grades being in jeopardy or something like that. We had to pass the last assignment in order to pass the quarter with a C. My old man would hit the roof. I guess it was partly my fault, but it was partly his too. Teams were supposed to work together and I think by then, I realized how much un-like a team we were. But still, how was it my fault that he kept on yellin' at me when _he was the one that mixed up the trees? He exploded at me. And was I going to take any of that shit? Of course not. But our argument couldn't go very far. The whistle sounded, signaling lights out. With my luck, I didn't sleep easy. _

_*Dream*_

_            It was any other ordinary day. I woke-up at the Curtis house and Johnny and Dally came floating through the door. Wait a minute. FLOATING?! JOHNNY AND DALLY!??!? I jumped up from the couch, "Hey guys!" I shouted. They quieted me down, "Shhh…this is a dream, but still the Curtis' are sleeping."_

_            "Wh-what are you doing here?"_

_            "Steve, listen. We're ghosts of our former selves. We were sent here to warn you about something." Johnny told me._

_            "What is it?"  _

_            "Something bad is going to happen when you wake-up. Something's going to happen to you and Ponyboy." Dally told me._

_            "Yeah, he tells us you're not getting along too well." Johnny piped up. I sent them a confused look, "Have you been talking to Pony?"_

_            "Yeah, all the time." They both said._

_            "How come he never told me or any of the gang?"_

_            "He didn't realize that he was talking to us. He sat in the lot one morning and was just talking, addressing us. We missed that. We thought y'all would still come by and visit us. When you wake-up, something will happen, I'm telling you."_

_            "What's going to happen?"_

_            "We can't tell you," Dally sighed, "Look, Pony needs you more than you think."_

_            "Pony? Ponyboy Curtis? Nah…we hate each other enough to start a war now."_

_            "So we've heard. You guys need to pull together and work _together_ to get yourselves out of this mess or you'll end up like us." I heard myself gasp. Did he mean dead? As if reading my thoughts, Dally nodded. Johnny sighed, "We missed you all. We told Pony something that he needs to bring back to the guys. Try and get him to tell you first. Don't doubt what he says. It's true. You've seen it yourself."_

_            "We miss you so much," I whispered._

_            "We have to go, Steve. Remember, be careful and work together…" they drifted away and faded. _

            I woke with a start. I looked over and saw Pony tossing and turning, working up a sweat. 'It was just a dream,' I told myself and went back to sleep. Of course, I didn't sleep well because of that dream. When the morning whistle blew, I got up groggily. I was happy that it was the last time that I had to hear that whistle at the early hours of the morning. Pony and I stared at each other strangely and I couldn't help wondering if he had a dream like mine too. I didn't have time to ask though. After breakfast, the teachers gave us our English themes back. I looked down at mine and surprisingly, I got an A. I had written about family troubles. The trouble my mom and I were having with my semi-abusive father. I looked over to Ponyboy. He seemed relatively happy with his grade, but when I looked at the length of that theme, I was surprised. It was almost like a novel.

            "Ok! Each group gets a compass and each group is given a different set of directions and a camera. Record on camera everything you do to find your way back here. Make it back here by lunchtime, which is about 2 hours from now. Then, we'll get ready to go back down the flatlands of Tulsa. Ponyboy and Steve! Take these and follow the directions up to the peak then back down again, taking 2 separate routes." He threw us the compass and handed us the camera. I stood there numbly. What the hell were these teachers thinking? They were actually trusting Ponyboy and I with these expensive tools _and they were going to let us wander off on our own. Okay, so we had directions. Big fucking whoop._

            Pony looked about as disgusted as I felt. We rolled our eyes at each other and started walking towards the peak. Each of us had a pack filled with one bag of trail mix each and a walkie-talkie in case we get lost. We walked in silence. I'm not sure if it was because we were too tired to care or if it was that dream. Something told me that he'd had it too. But I didn't believe it. Johnny and Dallas are dead. They can't come back to life because ghosts aren't real. Are they? I shook my head and kept on walking. We were actually making good progress considering that we just had to walk in a straight line. That is, until we reached our first fork.

            "I say we go that way since its southeast." Pony suggested. I was confused, "But the map says to go northwest." I turned the camera on.

            "Yeah, but Coach told me that if we do it backwards, we'll have more of a chance of getting our grades raised to a B." he babbled.

            "True, but I did good on my English theme which counts for a lot too," I protested.

            "So did I but if I don't get an A, Darry might kill me." 

            "Fine, fine. But it's your fault if you get us lost," I grumbled.

            "It's a team thing, Steve. If you don't wanna do it…"

            "LOOK! We're just wasting time standing around and arguing. Let's just go." He didn't say anything and we started in the direction he was telling me. I held the compass and told him the directions. After awhile, we still hadn't reached the red flag that was supposed to be our marker. I wondered if the compass was broken and shook it around for awhile until I was satisfied. Ponyboy was looked at the map, confused. He turned it around a few times and looked at me. At the same exact time, I realized something. I was holding the compass completely wrong. I'd been telling him the wrong directions. Ponyboy looked at me with fear in his eyes, "Steve, I was holding the map wrong…" WHAT?!?! So was he telling me that we were COMPLETELY lost!??!

            "WHAT?!" I exploded.

            "Sorry…We can still get back. We just need to adjust the compass…"

            "Uh, Ponyboy?" I asked.

            "Yeah?" he was busy trying to figure it out.

            "I…I, uh, I was kinda holding the compass wrong." Now it was his turn to explode,

            "WHAT?!?!?! So now we're in the middle of nowhere?!"

            "Hey, don't blame me for your own stupidity!!" I yelled at him. He was turning purplish. Whether it was from the cold or from anger, I couldn't tell you.

            "You held a compass in the wrong direction!!!"

            "You held a map upside down or sideways or whatever!!!" We yelled at each other for awhile. Finally, I pushed him and he shoved me back. We didn't get any farther because we heard a loud rumbling. We both instantly shut up and looked towards the rumble. A mountain load of snow was rushing towards us and before we could think, it knocked us over like bowling pins. I saw our camera, compass, and map going flying away. I also saw Ponyboy flying in a different direction. But before I could even yell, I was engulfed in the snow…

***Finally…the good part. I never thought I'd get to it!***


	15. Ponyboy: I Miss You

**Ponyboy: I Miss You**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Blatty (YAY!! You're back! I hope you feel much better!), Miss L, Ruth, Chase M. Dakota, MaverickGirl, Usagibuffy, and Burnin' Church Gal (of course)! I LOVE YOU!!!**

            The last thing I'd heard was the rumble of the snow rushing down on top of me and before I could open my mouth to scream, it whisked me away and buried me under. I don't know how long I blacked out, but all I know is when I woke-up, the first thing that hit me was a dizzy sensation. Then came the expected cold air. I was laying flat on my stomach and pieces of sharp ice were poking into my skin, mostly in the already bruised places due to mine and Steve's consistent fighting. I felt a twang in my entire right leg. I knew from my first aid class that something was broken, though what remained to be seen. Before I had gone under, glimpses of Steve, the compass, the map, and the camera fly into a distance. Now I knew I had gotten what I wanted. I wanted to get away from Steve. And here I was, away from him. Except I was all alone. 

            I felt the weight of my backpack still on my back, although swung to the side a little. It was slightly open and I twisted my body to see if I could get something to eat out of it. As much as I twisted and turned, no results were positive. Finally, after a long while trying, my body was overcome with fatigue and although I tried fighting it, I fell asleep. It was probably one of the worst nightmares I'd ever had because I couldn't remember it. Except this time, no one was there to wake me up from the endless fears because this time, I was all alone. 

            Over the course of the next hour, day, week, I have no idea, I slept and thought. That was all I did. I couldn't even eat because there was no way for me to get to my backpack. One moment, it was colder than the others; I lay there thinking about Two-Bit, Soda, and Darry. I tried to picture a typical Saturday morning at our house…

            _"Wake-up! Come on, Pony get up!" Soda would gently shake me. I open my eyes slowly, shutting them at once when I find the lights are on._

_            "It's Saturday, Soda. Can't I sleep in?" I groan as he throws the covers off of me. _

_            "No."_

_            "Well why not?" _

_            "Because me n' Darry have to get to work and you need to get up."_

_            "So go to work. I'll stay in bed."_

_            "No." Darry had come in by now, "Come on, Pony. Breakfast is getting cold."_

_            "Too tired," I mumble._

_            "Well…if you insist." They share a quiet moment together, where I thought they'd left. But those thoughts vanish as I get picked up and carried to the living room where I am tickled practically to death. Every Saturday I'd think they left, but every Saturday, they'd get me. _

_            Two-Bit would come running in through the door, slamming it as always, "Hey guys! How's it going?" _

_            "Great!" my brothers would chirp laughing at me as I moan and groan, "Great. Just great." Two-bit laughs and digs into some chocolate cake and beer, sitting down for a good Mickey Mouse __Marathon__ on TV. If Steve wasn't there already, he'd come in about now, looking either bitter about his dad beating him and his mom up again or happy for an unknown reason. _

_            "Hey Steve! Have some cake, pull up a chair, just not in front of Mickey!" Two-bit would say. Steve rolls his eyes and plops down on the couch. Soda is almost done with his shower by now. Steve grabs cake and looks at me, giving me his daily glare. I return it and sit on the couch away from him. When Soda finally gets out of the shower, and at least half dressed, he plops down in front of the TV for chocolate cake too. Sometimes, he won't have any because he'll be late. When Darry's ready, Soda would rush around the house, looking for shoes, a shirt, and his DX shirt. He pulls on his DX cap and head for the car. Two-bit and I are left with the dishes as always, even though I end up doing them. Then we go hang-out around the neighborhood and have fun for the day…_

            I forced myself to stop thinking those thoughts as tears leaped to my eyes, threatening to push out from underneath my lids. "Ponyboy, stop being stupid. This is all a dream and soon, you'll be back at home under you warm covers and Soda's arm and you'll be forced to go to school." I kept telling myself. But even after a long while, I still didn't believe myself. I knew for a fact that I couldn't survive without at least water so I kept drinking the snow. I drank and drank until my stomach felt sicker than anything in the world. My stomach still rumbled and I still couldn't get to the backpack. Since I was so incredibly hungry, I knew I'd been under the snow for at least a day or maybe even two. If I didn't get to the backpack by day three, I'd have a slim chance of surviving this and I couldn't die. 

            I couldn't die. What would Soda and Darry do if I died. I remembered what he'd said when they came to the hospital after I'd gotten back from Windrixville, "I thought we'd lost you, like we did mom and dad." And I couldn't let him feel that way ever again. I'd never forgive myself. And what would Soda do? Darry had said that he'd cried every night I was gone. Well what if they found out I was gone again? What would they do? "Stop it, Ponyboy. You'll be fine. Think positive." I scolded myself.

            Suddenly, I remembered the dream I'd had with Dally and Johnny in it the other night. They told me something bad was going to happen. And they were right. I thought it was just a dream, only now I believed otherwise. I remembered the look Steve gave me when we first woke-up and somehow, I felt that he had had a dream not too different from mine. Call it premonition, but I think it was a sign. "THIS is what they were warning us about!" I shouted, only because I knew no one could hear me anyway. From the looks of it, unless someone was near, no one would be able to hear me since I was about four feet under. I wanted to slam my head into the snow, but obviously couldn't. Another day went by and suddenly I knew I wasn't feeling so hot.

            My stomach ached badly with the feeling of starvation finally hitting me. The snow was making my lips numb and it was also making me sicker than anything in the world. "Steve…" I whispered. I needed him to find me and get me out of this hellhole. But before I could gather up any strength to call for him, a wave of blackness washed over me…


	16. Steve: Searching and Finding

**Steve: Searching and Finding**

****

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

***Thanks to all who reviewed: Blatty (I love your short story!), Miss L, Chase M. Dakota, Maverick Girl, BuzzBuzz16, Ruth (Is my fanfic good interesting or bad interesting?), Tally38 (awww…thanks!), miki, and Lil Chaos Angel (I hope you didn't go crazy!!). ***

***Burnin' Church Gal: WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?!? You haven't updated either! Oh well…I hope you're okay!***

            "Oh my god my head…" I groaned once I came to, "Pony, are you okay?" I asked, but when I looked up, I saw no one. All there was in front of me was a mass of white snow. After a few moments of sitting and doing nothing, I decided to get up and maybe start looking for the kid. After all, Soda would be pretty upset if I came home without his brother. Yeah, he'd definitely kill me.

            "Come on, Steve. You know you'd be kind of sad that the kid was gone," I told myself out loud since there was no one else to talk to. The silence had become deafening, almost earsplitting and I didn't like it one bit. I quickly retrieved my backpack and searched for something to eat. By this time, I was starving. 

            As I ate, I thought of where Ponyboy could possibly be. I felt like I was forgetting something from before, but I couldn't exactly place what. Suddenly, the thought hit me like a sack of potatoes, "Avalanche!" I cried out, jumping up. Of course, no one heard me otherwise I wouldn't have ended up in the trouble that I did later on. But anyway, images of Ponyboy being swept away by the avalanche took over my mind and I remembered the direction that he went in. Sighing, I ended my little lunch (or dinner…or breakfast for that matter) break and started looking for him. 

            As the sun started to set, I started to worry. True, I had never liked the kid because he was a little tagalong jerk. But at the same time, he didn't deserve to die! I wanted to keep looking, but I was going to collapse if I didn't stop. Finally, in the pitch blackness of things, I sat down on the snow and tried to figure out how to sleep. I'm not sure how I managed, but in the end, I did.

            "Oh…where the hell am I?" I groaned as my eyes adjusted to the bright morning light. As the events of the previous day came flooding into my mind, I regretted wishing I knew. Sighing, I got up and began my search, once again, for Ponyboy.

            "Come on, you have to be here _somewhere_." I muttered to myself. It was getting quiet and I can't stand quiet, especially since I grew-up around noise. I remembered this one time when Soda and I were wrestling in the Curtis house and Darry wasn't home yet. The TV was roaring and the radio was blasting. We were wrestling and we'd knocked down the lamp and the phone, by accident of course. Darry came home and had a fit…

_*Flasback*_

_            "I bet I could beat you in everything else!" Soda cried as I won the 12th round of poker that day. _

_            "Yeah, right. You only wish!" I jokingly sneered back at him. Soda glared at me and I glared back, but soon we broke into grins. _

_            "Well what do you wanna do about it?" Soda asked me finally._

_            "Do about what?" I had already forgotten the situation at hand._

_            "Our disagreement."_

_            "Well…I say we do what we always do." I stood up and went across from him. _

_            "You're on. This time, you're going down Randle."_

_            "You only wish, Curtis."_

_We circled each other for a few minutes before we pounced onto each other and twisted the other's arms and legs rolling into lamps and tables and couches. We probably got more bruises from hitting things than from each other._

_            "WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!" A door slammed. I quickly stood up and helped Soda up. Darry was home and judging from the way he looked and the way the room looked, we were in a _little_ bit of trouble. Just a little._

_            "Uh…um…hi?" Soda tried, squeaking like a mouse._

_            "What did you do?" Darry hovered over him like a shadow._

_            "Uh…sorry."_

_            "Sodapop Curtis! You didn't answer my question!" _

_            "We were trying to see who was better at wrestling." _

_            "What did I tell you about wrestling into lamps and such?"_

_            "Don't do that?"_

_            "That's right."_

_            "We'll clean it up," I cut in quickly. Darry looked from my pleading face to Soda's pleading face and finally sighed in exasperation, "Fine. Clean it up and do it quickly. If I hear any more breaking noises, you're really in for it." With that, he retreated into his room, muttering about how Soda had too much time on his hands. As soon as he was gone, Soda and I turned to each other and grinned._

_            "Let's do this." I told him happily. We quickly picked up all the pieces from the lamp and I picked up the phone receiver and we tried to attach it to the wall again. Of course, with the two of us together, you can never have a nice and quiet clean-up. We used the broomstick and swung it around, accidentally knocking the TV over. Soda caught it in time, sending us into a fit of giggles, like little girls. _

_            "So when you put…" Ponyboy walked into the house, his study buddy from school behind him, "Uh…what are you guys doing?" Soda jumped up from the ground, TV in his arms, "Hey Ponyboy! Who's this?"_

_            "This? This is Katy McIntyre, from school. She's my study buddy. Katy, this is my older brother Soda and his best friend Steve." Pony introduced us. Katy said a shy hello to us, but she kept her eyes on Soda. Figures. _

_            "Hey everyone!" Two-Bit called, slamming the door behind him, as usual._

_            "Hey."_

_            "Hi! Who's this pretty little lady?" Two-Bit smiled flirtatiously at Katy. She blushed and giggled, "Hi. My name's Katy."_

_            "Oh, I know you!"_

_            "You do?" _

_            "Yeah! You're that girl in me n' Pony's gym class!"_

_            "Oh yeah, I am aren't I?" she blushed._

_After she left, we all turned on Pony, "New girl?"_

_            "No, study buddy." He blushed._

_            "She's some looker, ain't she?" Two-Bit teased._

_            "Shut up! She's my study buddy, I told you!"_

_            "Yeah…right…"_

_*End Flahsback*_

            I wished that those days were back. Everything was so simple. I hated Ponyboy, but tolerated him. We all teased Pony for his lack thereof a girl and why he wasn't interested in them, and Soda and I always cleaned our messes up. None of this stupid school trip stuff. And definitely, _no_ being lost. That wasn't in the plan, yet it somehow managed to squeeze itself in.

            The next few days were basically the same. Every morning, I'd set off on my search for Ponyboy, but I'd never get very far because I didn't want to wander too far away. I didn't have a compass and I only had a certain amount of food. After three days, I was about to give up on finding Ponyboy and getting out alive. But one day, I was walking and I trip on a clump of snow. Digging my foot out of it, I discovered the top of a backpack. Pony's backpack. 

***I know it's short and I know I haven't been updating. I'M SORRY!!!! It's just that the play (and I'm a lead) is coming up and I also have big tests and state tests to study for. These actually count and they go onto my high school transcript. All my teachers next year in high school will see the bad grades if I don't study. Sooooo…I can't update as much! Sorry! Just thought I'd let y'all know! I'll try my best though. Thanks for sticking with this!***


	17. Ponyboy: Too Soon

**Ponyboy: Too Soon**

***Thanks for the reviews: Blatty (still not breaking it…lol), Burnin' Church Gal (I'm sorry about the monster review of all reviews…I still love your reviews no matter what!! And good luck with the Lent thing…), MaverickGirl (Thanks for understanding! It's almost over don't worry!), Eh, Man (lol thanks so much!), Chase M. Dakota (thanks! I seem to be doing many cliffhangers huh?), Lil Chaos Angel (Please don't go crazy!)**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them…unfortunately…**

            My head spun as I finally came to. I heard a muffled sigh of relief in the background. When I opened my mouth to speak, a clump of snow fell into it. Sputtering, I sat up in an attempt to spit it out, only to fall back down from dizziness and extreme exhaustion. 

            "Hey, take it easy," a gentle hand pushed me back down into a laying position. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, now that I had all the cobwebs out of my brain. But it also sounded strange, like I wasn't used to hearing that particular voice being gentle. 

            "Ponyboy, take it easy…" the voice came again. Who was it? Why couldn't I figure it out? Slowly, I tried opening my eyes and sitting up again. This time, I made it. But my vision was still a bit blurry. Shaking my head slightly, I tried to clear my vision. It was Steve. Steve Randle. Why was he being so nice to me? This was almost surreal! 

            "Wh-what happened?" I asked cautiously. Steve didn't respond. Instead, he thrust a bag of chips at me, "Eat." He commanded.

            "What h-h-happened?" I was shaking from hunger, cold, and anxiety. 

            "Just eat before you starve to death." His hand still held the very inviting bag of potato chips. I reached out shakily to take one and began to shift into a more comfortable position. A lighting flash feeling flew up my left leg and I immediately stopped. I remembered what had happened. 

            "St-steve?" I grimaced from the pain.

            "Yeah kid?"

            "I think I broke so-something."

            "Where does it hurt?" he jumped up.

            "Left…leg." He carefully rolled up my pant leg and looked, wincing, "Uh…maybe you shouldn't look at that right now. Turn away," he instructed. When I did as I was told, he continued, "I'm going to wrap it so it might hurt a little." He carefully slid his sweatshirt off and wrapped it around my leg, finding sticks so that I wouldn't move it. What I couldn't figure out through all this was _why Steve was doing this. He hated me and he'd probably love it if I dropped off the face of this planet. So why was he making sure I was alive now?_

            I lay on the snow in peace with myself for awhile. I felt like I was in an alternate universe. Steve was sprawled out closely next to me (for warmth), looking up at the sky like I was. The sun was about to set and the sky was thickening over like smooth paint on its brand new pallet. Smiling slightly, I sighed and watched as the mist glazed over the sky as orange and red teased the edges of the mountains. Watching sunsets always made me happy, but this one gave me a sort of reminiscence. It was like within that sunset, all my memories and special moments came up, floating into the reddish sky. Soon, total darkness took over and I was left to my own thoughts.

            "Wow…that was weird," Steve mused to himself as we lay in the dark on top of the cold and icy snow.

            "What?" I asked curiously.

            "The sunset. It was like home." It struck me then that Steve had noticed what I noticed about it. But the strange thing was, I never told him about sunsets and I never thought Steve could think that deep. 

            "I know. You should see sunrise. If you thought this was great, just wait until sunrise."

            "You watch these a lot?" he was curious now.

            "Yeah, I try. Especially since Johnny and Dally died, I've been watching sunsets and sunrises as often as I could. Johnny," my voice caught. I thought I was totally over my best friends' deaths, but I guess not, "Johnny told me to stay gold. He told me to hold on to what I could during my golden years. He told me to tell Dally to watch a sunset. By the time I read that note, it was too late already. Dally was gone. So now I watch them more than ever before. I guess I'm trying to make up for Dally not being able to watch it." I explained, unnecessarily. But Steve wasn't irritated at all. In fact, he was really interested,

            "What do you mean by stay gold?" he asked, turning to face me.

            "Hold on to your inner child and don't lose it because that will keep you gold forever."

            "Damn, Pony. Where do you get all these things?"

            "Books. Maybe you should try reading one sometime. You know, they're these things with pages inside of them. The pages have words on them that make a story; a very interesting story. You even learn things from these stories." I teased. I had started to grow comfortable around Steve, but I tensed after a long silence.

            "You know, maybe I should," Steve said finally, grinning in the moonlight, "Soda said your English theme was long and very deep. He said I should read it sometime."

            "Maybe you should," I said casually.

            "Did you get it back yet?"

            "Yeah, right before the trip," I realized then that I still had it in my backpack, "I have it with me."

            "Can I read it tomorrow morning before we set off to find a way back?"

            "Sure." We smiled a little at each other and finally my weariness got the best of me. I slipped into a dreamless sleep, finally at peace with having Steve around. Maybe things would get better after all…Maybe Steve and I could work things out. 

            I spoke too soon.

***What will happen next? I'm not too sure…I'm going to write it tomorrow during my claimed homework time. Hehe…bad Melody…oh well. I gotta go do my math homework! Bye!***


	18. Steve: Officially Done

**Steve: Officially Done**

**Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with them…just the plot**

**Thanks to all those who reviewed: S.E. Fan (Thanks!), Burnin' Church Gal (Hope that computer gets fixed!), Soda-fan2603 (Sorry it took so long), Usagibuffy (Hmm…that's an idea. Thanks!), and Lil Chaos Angel (Of course! You didn't think I'd make him die did you?) **

The kid woke and he was okay except for a bad leg. I was so relieved that he was alive that I didn't bug him about where the hell he was until the morning. When the sun rose, I got up and started thinking of ways that we could maybe survive this after all. Looking up at the sky, I sighed feeling so assured that I wouldn't get into trouble with Sodapop for losing Ponyboy. The only other problem we had now was to actually get out of there alive!

            "Steve?" I heard the kid mumble, getting up.

            "Don't get up," I told him, "We can't have you moving your leg when it's hurt."

            "But we have to find someone to rescue us."

            "Don't worry about it. You rest and I'll do the searching."

            "But-"

            "I told you not to worry about it! God, don't you ever listen?!" the kid was pissing me off and I could see why Soda advised me never to go into a field with kids. They were so damn annoying! Okay, so maybe Ponyboy was 14 and he wasn't a kid, but he was pissing me off just the same. 

            "Sorry, Steve," he muttered softly. I looked at him and I almost regretted all those times I yelled at him. He just looked so sad and resigned; almost tired, like he had already given up. I sighed, "It's okay kid, it's okay."

            "Do you think we'll get out of here soon? I miss Soda and Darry and Two-Bit…" he looked like he was on the verge of tears and for some reason that made me angry.

            "Look, I miss them too, but there isn't anything we can do about it until we find the way out of here," I told him through clenched teeth, trying my best to be nice.

            "Well if you hadn't started arguing with me, nothing would have happened!" WHAT?! I didn't start arguing with him! I was right and he knew it! That little bastard was blaming everything on me! Mr. High and mighty thought that just because his brother was Darry, I had to bow down to his every move.

            "I didn't start the fucking argument! What the hell are you BSing about now?! You're the one that didn't listen to me and I was right!" (A/N: okay I just wrote like…a whole page and a half of stuff and just as I was about to save it, the computer crashed! It was good too! I am sooo mad! Sorry if this next part isn't as good as I wanted it to be!)

            "Excuse me? You were right? Yeah right. There was no way in hell that _you were right! When have you ever put any work in anything we've done this whole trip?!"_

            "I put work in everything! It's you that screwed up!"

            "You were holding the compass the wrong way!"

            "Me? What about you holding the map wrong?!"

            "That wouldn't matter if we had actually attempted the other assignments! But you see, we didn't!"

            "Hey, if you hadn't spent all that time trying to be right, then we would have gotten everything done!"

            "I wasn't _trying to be right! I was trying to pass without getting too many bruises from you!"_

            "You gave me just as many and we didn't get anything accomplished and we're just stuck here like sitting ducks without anyone knowing where the hell we are! And to top that off, we didn't finish the assignment."

            "Well it doesn't matter anyway because we're both failing now aren't we?!"

            "It doesn't even matter that we're failing because we might not even make it out of here alive!" Ponyboy didn't respond and instead, laid back down into the snow, staring up at the sky. I plopped down into a sitting position next to him. I really was sorry for yelling at him, but I knew he wouldn't believe that. I didn't know what it was, the kid just really pissed me off; it wasn't even about his tagging along with me and Soda anymore. There was just something about him that made me angry, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe it was because of his brains and how smart he always was. Hell, I knew I couldn't get an A if my life depended on it. Maybe it was the way he just seemed so innocent all the time. Maybe it was the fact that everyone knew he would go far. Maybe it was that he was just a better person that I could ever be. Maybe it was the knowledge that Ponyboy Curtis wasn't really a greaser. Sure, he could act like one, but he was deep and sensitive and greasers aren't deep and sensitive; they're rough and mean. Maybe because of that, he would go far. And maybe I was just jealous.

            "Oh this is just great…just fucking great," Pony shouted suddenly, "Johnny and Dally said that we had to get along to get out of a mess and look at us!" As soon as he said those words, he clapped his hands over his mouth. I just sat there, staring at him, forgetting about how cold I was or how we'd never make it out alive.

            "What?" I said, softly, more gentle this time.

            "Nothing…It was just a stupid dream and didn't mean a thing. Really…"

            "Pony, I had the same dream."

            "You did?" he looked at me, surprised. 

            "Yeah. Johnny and Dally were ghosts…"          

            "Yeah!"

            "And they just…floated into the room."

            "They told me something awful was going to happen and that we needed to work together to get out the mess. Together. I wonder what they…oh…" he trailed off, realizing what they meant. I still didn't get it.

            "What?"

            "This was the something awful that was going to happen. This is what we needed to work together on."

            "Oh…" I got it, but that meant we hadn't been listening to our friends. Suddenly I remembered that there was something Pony was supposed to tell me, "Um, Johnny and Dally told me that you needed to tell me something. Something important. About talking to them?" Pony looked startled.

            "Well yeah…I go to the lot everyday and I…I…talk to them. I know it sounds stupid, but in the dream they said that they heard me talking and that they wished everyone would hang-out at the lot more often."

            "But we're scared…"   

            "I was too, but it's not that bad. It's comforting, actually. I mean, you get all the tears out of you and stuff."

            "You know, kid…maybe we can get out of this." I decided.

            "Maybe you're right. Maybe we-" he cut himself off, eyes widening. I looked at him confused.

            "Pony, what's the…"

            "Steve, just don't turn around. Just freeze. Don't move." He sounded genuinely scared.

            "Wh-what's behind me?"

            "Just," he gulped, "Just don't move." I heard a snarl behind me and I naturally…turned around, but I really wish that I'd listened to Ponyboy.

***Uh-oh…I left you at another cliff hanger haven't I? Now I know I'm going to get yelled at…Oh well, it brings in the reviews. PLEASE REVIEW ANYWAY!!***  
  



	19. Soda: Worrying

**Soda: Worrying**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed: BLATTY!!! (sorry I broke the chain!! I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS STILL!!), MissLkid, Lynn (Don't worry, Steve won't die.), Usagibuffy, TallemeraRane (You were right), Chase M. Dakota (Sorry, but it's one of them. The next chapter will tell you.), dreaminaboutDal (Thanks a bunch!), Estelle Yavetil, soda's~gurl* (Your wish has come true…Tulsa.), lilramona (I'll take it you're not a Steve fan. Sorry, I can't kill him. People would be after me, but I hope you like the story anyway!) **

            The phone rang for me at the DX station the day that Ponyboy, Steve, and Two-bit were coming home. I was alone at the DX because the guy that was supposed to sub for Steve got sick and didn't show up. I was starting to close up, like the boss had told me to, so that I could meet Darry to pick them all up. At this rate, we'd be a little late, but that was okay.

            "Hello? This is the DX," I wheezed, gasping for breath. I really needed to run with Pony more often when he got back.

            "Is this Sodapop Curtis?" a man with a deep voice asked over the phone.

            "Yes, this is he. How can I help you, sir?"

            "Soda, this is Coach Tyson, Ponyboy's track coach."

            "Hi, Coach Tyson, how are you?"

            "Me? I'm fine. But, uh…we have a problem," he sounded really nervous, which was never a good thing, "Today before we left, we gave the kids one last assignment. Apparently, Steve and Ponyboy had a little trouble. They never came back to the site." I felt a chunk of ice fall to the pit of my stomach.

            "W-what?" I asked unwilling to believe it.

            "I'm sorry. We have all the teachers that were on the trip on the look out for them. We've already contacted the police and the National Guard. I escorted the rest of the kids down here at the bus station. Can you please get your older brother and meet us down here? We'll need some information. Do you think it would be wise to inform Mr. and Mrs. Randle of their son's situation?"

            "Wait a minute," I said barely above a whisper, "Steve and Pony never went back to camp? Does that mean they're…?"

            "We don't know, Soda. I'm terribly sorry."

            "It's…it's alright…" Coach Tyson was particularly close with Ponyboy, being his gym coach and his track coach. 

            "Now, should I contact Steve's parents?" he knew the hatred Steve had towards his dad. Tyson had the unfortunate experience of an argument between him and his drunken father at an award ceremony for the track team that the gang attended. 

            "No, I'll do it, thanks, Coach."

            "Get Darry and meet us here ASAP."

            "Okay, coach. Bye." I hung-up and slowly sank to the floor of the DX, not noticing that my boss had come around the corner. He asked me what I was doing, startling me out of my thoughts. I told him the whole situation in a monotone, not caring what he thought. My boss sympathetically told me to get out and find my brother, that he would close up for me. I thanked him repeatedly before calling Darry, which was something that I dreaded even more than calling Mr. and Mrs. Randle. Shakily, I picked the phone up to call my older brother who I knew would be more than devastated.

            "Hello?" Darry's voice sang through the phone, oblivious to the situation we were faced with and I wished that I could keep it that way.

            "Hey Dar, it's me." 

           "Sodapop? I'm on my way, don't worry," he chuckled. When I didn't laugh like I usually did, he became concerned, "Soda? What's wrong?"

            "Darry, Coach Tyson just called. Pony and Steve are…missing…" I told him getting right to the point. I never had been great at breaking things to people gently. There was a silence as I heard Darry breathing hard into the phone.

            "W-what?" he finally said.

            "Pony and Steve are missing," I repeated, faltering slightly a Pony's name.

            "What do you mean?"

            "I don't know. We need to meet their teachers at the school right now."

            "Now?"

            "Now."

            "I'll be right over. Do you have a ride?"

            "I'll walk, it doesn't matter. I have to call Mr. and Mrs. Randle first."

Darry took in a sharp breath, "Okay. I'll see you there." He sounded really worried. I was too, but I tried to keep calm as I dialed Steve's number. I didn't mind his mom so much. She was a real sweetheart and she loved Steve, but his father…now that was a scary man. 

            "Hello?" Mrs. Randle's voice rang out over the phone.

            "Hi, Mrs. Randle? It's Soda."

            "Hey Soda! Aren't you going to pick Steve up?" she asked me, confused.

            "Um…Mrs. Randle? About that, well, the teacher just called me and said Pony and Steve are both…missing."

            "What?"

            "Missing, Mrs. Randle."

            "My baby is missing?" I heard her as she sobbed into the phone.

            "Mrs. Randle, I'll be right over to pick you up. We're going to the school right now to see if there's any word."

            "Oh, thank you so much Soda! Steve's father is not going to be pleased."

            "That doesn't matter right now," I assured her, "What matters is Steve gets home alright…and Pony." We hung-up and I raced over to the Randle house. Mrs. Randle and I practically ran all the way to school, which isn't too close to our house, mind you. When we got there, Darry was already a nervous wreck. It was all I could do to keep from breaking right there. But I had to stay strong for everyone else's sanity. I wasn't supposed to cry. Greasers don't cry. That's what I kept telling myself over and over again, but I lost it when Coach Tyson reported them still missing two hours later. It was going to be a long night.

***Sorry that this chappy sucks. I was rushing through it when I realized that I hadn't updated this story is such a long time and that my readers were going to kill me. I'll have the next one up ASAP! SORRY!***


	20. Ponyboy: Here We Go Again

**Ponyboy: Here We Go Again**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.**

**Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Blatty (no I'm pretty sure some people would kill me…hehe. Oh yeah, and update your story soon! If you can, that is. No pressure, I know I haven't been great at updating.), Chase M. Dakota, TallemeraRane (I know, but it's ending soon since I'm backing myself into a corner here.), MissLKid, Lilramona (Actually, there's something happening in the future that might make you happy), Litzy Bitsy, Karlei Shaynner (lol, im an angsty person too. Something will happn to them, don't worry), and Estelle Yavetil. **

            It was a wolf. There was a huge wolf with sharp as razor teeth and eyes that seemed to say 'I'm going to eat you and there's nothing you can do about it!'. I tried to stay calm so that maybe Steve wouldn't panic and get us out of there, but I had no such luck. When I told Steve not to turn around, he naturally turned around. I heard his breath get caught in his throat and he choked on a gasp, which would have been funny if we weren't under the circumstances we were under. 

            "Pony…" Steve whispered with shakiness in his voice. He sounded terrified, which was something that I hadn't seen in Steve for a really long time. 

            "Yeah?" I barely managed to get out. There was a lump in my throat the size of Canada and I was afraid that if I said too much, I would start crying, which apparently Greasers don't do. But I had already proved that theory incorrect up in Windrixville. 

            "On three," Steve was saying in a low, somewhat comforting voice, "we run. Okay?"

            "'Kay…"

            "One, two…THREE!!" he jumped up and ran. I followed suit, but I had forgotten about my bad leg. As soon as I stood up, though, I was reminded. 

            "OW!!!" I screamed out in pain. Steve turned around to see what the problem was, but the wolf was getting near me and he didn't want to hurt both of us. At least I think that's what he was thinking. 

            "Pony, don't move," Steve warned me in a low undertone.

            "But…it hurts, Steve!!" I screamed, not moving a muscle.

            "Ponyboy, I'm serious. If you want to live, please don't move a muscle."

            "Why would you care? I would think you of all people would be _happy if I died."_

            "I care," he looked at me, surprised, "It's just…I-I'm not very good at controlling my anger. And you're a pretty easy target so you're always the one that I yell at," he admitted. I breathed shallowly for a minute, scared of the wolf and confused by Steve's words. ****

"Well, I guess I don't _really hate you," I confessed quietly, "Well I did for a bit, but when we came onto this trip, I don't know…I guess I realized how stupid this thing really is."_

            "When you were lost, I realized how much it really means to me that you stay alive. Our gang is going down in numbers, slowly. I just didn't want it to happen to us anymore. We've been through tons of shit already, you know?"

            "Yeah, I understand," I paused, remembering the wolf, "I really hate to be a moment breaker, Steve, but what about this wolf?" I shifted a little bit uncomfortablely.

Steve smiled a bit, "Right. On the count of three, I'm going to pull you out from under there and I'm gonna carry you all the way, okay?"

            "Yeah, okay," I bit my lip nervously. What if it didn't work? What if I got even more hurt? What if the world bit one of us? Steve must have sensed my discomfort because he sent me a grin, "Don't worry, Pony. Just think about this. We'll be home and with Soda and Darry and Two-Bit soon, right? We ain't gonna make them worry too much. We're gonna get through this." I nodded and whispered, "Count, quick."

            "Okay, one…two…three!" In one swift motion, Steve scooped me up into his arms and started to run. But not before I noticed that there were bit marks on his arm. It must have been the adrenaline because he didn't flinch or anything. We ran a few more steps before the wolf started coming after us for some reason. It was really strange because usually, wolves didn't attack without reason and neither of us had really invaded their property. 

            "Steve, it's catching up! Hurry!!" I screamed. Steve picked up the pace, but he wasn't much of a runner in many ways. He wasn't breathing correctly and his strides were too long. I didn't blame him though. I probably would have just stood there and screamed if I were him. Suddenly, I felt a jolt as I was thrown out of Steve's arms. The wolf had pounced onto Steve and sent both of us flying. 

            "STEVE!!!" The world was trying his best to get onto of Steve, but he was putting up a pretty good fight.

            "Pony, run!"

            "But-"

            "RUN! GET HELP, QUICK!!!!" I nodded and starting limping as fast as I possibly could. Soon, I started out in a dead out run, despite the fact that my legs were in excruciating pain. There was a look of pure fear on Steve's face when he told me to go get help. A look that I had never seen on Steve Randle's face was now plastered in my mind and would be forever more. I didn't get very far before I heard a terrifying scream. Looking back, I saw Steve rolling down a mound of snow, never knowing when he'd stop. My first impulse was to go after him and see if he was okay, but the wolf turned dangerously towards me. I gulped and moved back. What was I supposed to do now? I was a sitting duck. But I wasn't. For one horrid moment, the wolf stared me in the eye as if he knew something I didn't. Like he knew I was already hurting and was trying to tell me something. I tried to tell myself I was going crazy, but the signs were there and I felt it. Finally, the wolf looked in the other direction as if to say, "Go show him everything beautiful in this world, make him _see." And then he pranced away. I sat there, shocked and paralyzed with fear at the same time. But I soon broke out of that trance and started running, really running, towards Steve. He _had_ to be okay, right? RIGHT?_

***Please Review! We're nearing the end, everyone!***


	21. Ponyboy: Pain

**Ponyboy: Pain**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.**

**GUESS WHO'S BACK? MEEE!!!!!!!! I am so incredibly sorry I haven't updated in like FOREVER!!! I had a huge writer's block and I also have Regents exams this following week. I'll update one more time before I go to camp for 3 weeks. After that, I have the rest of the summer (hopefully) to write! SORRY!!!!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed: DBZ Gal, Cassie **(yes, they are VERY out of character and I didn't mean for them to be that way. If I ever finish this one and get around to writing another one, they'll be more in character. I already have the plot =D), **lil ramona **(I didn't realize your hatred for Steve ran so deep…Thanks for reviewing!), **Thunderjam (I'll try harder to 'update soon'), ****DreaminaboutDal (I'm sorry I didn't hurry! I had a huge writer's block…hehe), **kimmerkay **(do did I…But I don't know. I hate to make them hate each other forever…), ****Litzy bitsy (um…how much will you be stressing FINALLY this time? Lol), **Estelle Yavatil **(Yes, I FINALLY FINALLY updated this time…=D), ****MaverickGirl (You've been a very constant reviewer, thanks!)****, DrunkoffSoda (No, I like making my characters in hospitals too…), **MissLKid **(Thanks for the constant help when I talk to you!), ****TallemeraRane (Don't worry he's not dead…yet. J/k j/k don't panic!!!), **bella1878**(Pony did have a broken leg…I guess he deals well with pain!), and last but NOT least…****BLATTY (lol you didn't review this chapter, but then again, I noticed you haven't been on for a long time. Oh well, still can't break the chain!! =D)**

I couldn't run anymore. Everything was getting blurry and I just couldn't take it. I slowed into a walk and soon into a crawl. My back-pack started weighing me down so disregarding everything, I took it off and left it behind. Slowly, I made my way towards the hill, my leg in so much pain, it was numb. My fingers were about to freeze since the day we left, I didn't take my gloves with me. After what seemed like hours and hours, I reached the top of the hill that I saw Steve rolling down. How was I going to get down there?

            "St-Steve?" I called, hoping that he wasn't unconscious. There was no response. I groaned softly. What the hell was I supposed to do now? _'Okay, you're going to have to relax yourself. Calm down.'  I told myself over and over again. But I was scared and tired and frustrated. I just wanted to go home and lay in my own bed. Tears sprang to my eyes when I thought of home; of Two-Bit and Darry and Soda. I sat there until night fell, wallowing in self-pity when I should have been looking for Steve. Before I knew it, darkness enveloped me and I fell asleep, getting away from all the pain, from all the misery._

_            "Go find him, Pony," Johnny faded into the room. What was with this? Why was I seeing people who were dead? Was this some sick joke? What was wrong with me?_

_            "There's nothing wrong with you," Johnny added, as if reading my mind._

_            "Wh-why am I seeing you? Am I dead?" I asked fearfully._

_            "No, this is a dream. You can still make it out of this if you really try. You're not dead yet and neither is Steve. Go, Pony. Do everything and anything you can to find him!"_

_            "But how do I get down that hill?"_

_            "Use your head, Pony."_

_            "But you know I'm not good at that!"_

_            "Use your head…"     _

_            "I don't get it."_

_            "I must go now. Good-bye Ponyboy."_

_            "WAIT!!!!" But he had faded away just as quickly as he'd come. When I turned around, there it was. The wolf. _

            "AHHHH!!!!!" I screamed, jolting up in a cold sweat even though it was below freezing outside. What was that all about? I winced as I moved into a crawling position. I was going to find Steve and nothing, not anything or anyone –not even this freaking hill- was going to stop me. Sliding into a seated position, I grasped my leg tightly so it wouldn't be knocked around too much and I slid on my ass down the hill. I can't say it wasn't painful because it was. Branches and ice particles flew into my face and smacked against my leg. Tears were running down my face because I was trying hard not to cry or anything. When I reached the bottom, I took a few minutes to breathe easy and slowly ease up on the tension on my leg, causing more pain. 

            "Steve, come on…I know you're around here somewhere," I muttered under my breath searching the white area for any sign of life. I spotted a navy blue dot in the distance. It had to be Steve. Not even thinking about it, I started in on him, crawling as fast as I could. 

            After a few hours of endless crawling, only focusing on the navy blue dot in the distance, the dot had turned into a shape of a human body. It was Steve. I couldn't tell if he was conscious or not and I didn't have the energy to scream to him. Taking in another deep breath, I desperately wished I'd brought water with me. It would take too long to crawl the rest of the distance to get to Steve so I opted for walking. But how? I was going to break my leg off if I tried putting pressure on it. I caught a glimpse of a stick nearby. I untangled it from the heap that it was in and slowly leaned on it, rising from my seated position. I had to lean heavily on it to be able to walk and it still hurt when I did. But it didn't matter. I _had_ to get to Steve. I _had_ to get out alive. 

            "Steve," I whispered hoarsely as I reached his still body, "Steve!" I shouted louder, dropping onto my ass. His chest was rising and lowering so I knew that he was alive, which was a relief. But he wouldn't be for long it I couldn't get him to wake. I reached out and shook him hard. He stirred and opened his eyes half-way.

            "Pony?" he muttered, trying to sit up. I gently pushed him back and forced him to lie down, placing his discarded back-pack under his head.

            "Stop moving. Does it hurt anywhere?" I asked him.

            "Nah, just my ribs. I think I cracked a few again. It's okay though, everything else is just a little sore. My head kinda hurts a little, but it's nothing serious. How's your leg?" he asked me after summing up everything.

            "It hurts like a bitch…but we're alive right now."

            "If we don't find a way out of here, we _won't _be for much longer. We only have two bags of trail mix to live on right now."

            "One," I corrected him, "On my way down here to find you, the weight of my bag slowed me down so much, I had to get rid of it."

            "Even better," Steve muttered. At this point, even though things were better between us, I was still afraid of a big argument between us.

            "Sorry," I squeaked out.

            "It's okay, it's not your fault. I just hope someone finds us. And fast. We have one water-bottle between the two of us."

            "And snow!" I suddenly exclaimed, "Snow melts into water!"

            "That's smart," Steve smiled painfully, "So our water problem is solved. If we can make it into some sort of snow cave, without any wild animals in it, I think we might be safe." I looked around at the field of white that I saw for miles and miles and nothing else. There was no cave.

            "I sure wish we had us some smokes," I commented out of the blue.

            "So do I," Steve muttered, "so do I." Sighing, he got up into a standing position, wavering slightly from lack of balance. He winced when he stretched because of his ribs, "Let's try getting back up the hill. Helicopters will probably see us better or something." Nodding, I grabbed the stick I used to get to Steve and, once again, struggled to get up. But this time Steve was there to help me so it was slightly less painful, though not pain free. By nightfall, we managed to get almost all the way up the hill, but we kept slipping back down, mainly because of my leg and Steve's head. 

            "A little more," Steve panted, "We can do it. Just think, Pony. Soda, Darry, Two-bit." _'Soda, Darry, Two-bit.'  I chanted over and over in my head. Finally, Steve reached the top and extended his hand gingerly down to reach me. I grabbed hold and struggled to get up to the top. Somehow, we managed. But when we looked at each other to smile in triumph, Steve passed out. Cold. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it was a nightmare, but knowing it wasn't. I put my fingers where I could feel Steve's pulse and was relieved to find out that he had one. I knew I had to stay with him until help came, but the pain was taking me over and I fought it. I couldn't pass out unconscious. Not now, with Steve out too! But as always, my body didn't listen and I fell into oblivion. _

***Please Review! I know it's been a long long time!! Sorry!***


	22. Soda: Searching

**Soda: Searching**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.**

**Only like…2 more chapters! I promise I'll finish this before September!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Jessie C **(Thanks for reading, update yours soon!), **Girlsdontcri (Well we'll find out if they're ok won't we?), **Lizzy Halliwell **(Okay so it wasn't exactly soon since your review last month, but I'm sorry?), ****Ponyboysgirl1 (I'll definitely be sooner about this next time. Thanks!), **Kimmerkay **(I'm debating weather to make them friends again, or go back to terms like before, only not with so much hate…), **Karlei Shayner **(ANGST ROCKS!), **Latinagal **(No problem, keep it up!), **AA** (uh…sorry? I'll try harder next time, I promise with all my heart.), ****Eh, Man (It's okay, I'm glad you tried to save them though =D), **ScottyBaby **(You must have been sitting for a looooong time…sorry!), ****Tallemera Rane (I know, it's ending very soon. It's ending in the next two or three chapters, probably.), **True-Slytherin-gurl** (define really really soon. Lol thanks for reading!), ****Blatty (I TOLD YOU I'D DO IT!!!! Lol the chain is NOT breaking and I'll make sure of it!! =D), **Maverick Girl **(Aww I couldn't kill them that would be horrible!), and ****MissLKid (Sorry I haven't been on the RP lately, this chapter and other fandoms and uh…other stuff is the reason!).******

I paced the room over and over again, wringing my hands nervously. To think that only a week before, I was worried about my job. I was worried about Steve and Pony being friends. _'What does it matter now? They could be dead!' I shouted at myself. No, no, no! They weren't dead! I knew Ponyboy, I knew Steve. They were strong. They could get out of this alive. But how long would they tolerate each other? Were even together still? Out of pure frustration and worry, I let out a strangled scream, making Two-bit and Darry jump. _

            "Sorry," I muttered, sitting down then standing right back up again. 

            "Soda, relax. You're not really helping by pacing the floor like that. You're giving me a headache," Darry complained.

            "I'm getting dizzy watching you," Two-bit quipped. I glared at both of them before dropping into a red cushioned seat. I looked around the waiting room, devoid of any life except for the three of us and the lone receptionist sitting behind the counter, shuffling papers and typing things up. Every once in awhile, the phone would ring, startling all of us. Finally, after an hour of waiting for something, _anything_, someone came out to talk to us. 

            "Are you all here to hear about Ponyboy Curtis and Steven Randle?" a big burly man of about 35 stepped into the room, sweaty and tired.

            "Yes, we are. I'm Darry Curtis and this is my brother Sodapop. This is our friend, Two-bit."

            "Two-bit? Interesting names everyone's got around here," the man muttered good-naturedly, "I'm Officer Reynolds. I've been the chief of this search and rescue project."

            "Have you gotten any information?" I asked, carefully choosing my words. I didn't want to sound _too_ uneducated. 

            "Unfortunately," he sighed, "no." 

            "Oh."

            "But we have a team going out there to find them ourselves," he added quickly when he saw the downcast look I had on my face, "In fact, they're going to start heading out in fifteen minutes. You can come see them off, give any last details of what their appearances are, if you'd like." 

            "We'd like that!" Darry and Two-bit nodded, following Officer Reynolds and me out the door. We arrived at a helicopter landing pad thing ten minutes later, catching the search team as they boarded the helicopter. There were three members of the team: one middle-aged pilot who looked as if he'd spent too many years in the piloting business already, a young woman with fiery red hair like Cherry Valance, and a young man with gray eyes. Pony didn't like gray eyes much, he'd told me. But the funny thing was, his eyes were more gray than green. Only I never told him that, though I think he figured it out by himself. 

            I snapped back to the present, listening to the rescue team talk about what they were going to do, listening to Darry describe what Pony and Steve looked like. Suddenly, I had an idea. We could go with them. That way, they wouldn't have to memorize what the appearances of two boys were, they wouldn't have to explain anything, and we wouldn't have to sit around worried out of our minds.

            "Can we come?" I blurted, interrupting Darry's explanation of Steve's complicated swirls in his hair. They all looked at me as though I were a crazed maniac, maybe I was. 

            "Kid, we can't do that," the younger guy said bluntly. 

            "Why the hell not? It would save you guys the memory."

            "No, you guys can all get hurt, that's why!" 

            "But we won't!"

            "How the hell do you know that?!"

            "Jake," the girl put a hand on gray eyes' shoulder, "It's okay. Let's just take one." Gray eyes…Jake glared at me and then sighed, giving in.

            "Fine. One of you can go. It's your choice who goes." He turned away and the girl gave us a sympathetic look. The three of us looked at each other in total silence for thirty long seconds before Darry and Two-bit said at the same time, "You go." And pointed at me. I looked at each of them and in each of their eyes, I knew they both really wanted to go. But before I could protest, Two-bit pushed me forward and Darry yelled, "Be careful!" Almost mechanically, I boarded the helicopter, totally oblivious to the looks that Jake was giving to me. 

            The helicopter ride was awkward and silent. Nobody spoke much except for a few mumbles heard from the middle-aged driver. The girl kept giving Jake looks of warning and Jake kept fidgeting in his seat. They reminded me so much of my mother scolding me during Darry's high school graduation. It was one of the last events I'd ever been to with my parents. And what if something like that happened to Pony and Steve? I forced myself to stop thinking all those morbid thoughts before I went crazy. 

            "We're almost there," the girl smiled softly, tapping my shoulder.

            "Huh? Oh thanks. So what's the plan exactly?"

            "Well basically, we're doing a stab blindly in the snow kind of thing. We're going to start out at the place where the school set up camp. Then we're going to work in the direction that they were supposed to go. After that, we're going to work in the other direction in case they were going the wrong way or something happened with their map and compass skills. You're job is to tell us when you see the slightest bit of anything that resembles them. Now, Ponyboy is your younger brother, right?"

            "Yeah and Steve's my best friend."

            "Okay, we're going to need stats on them before we land. This'll only take five minutes." I obliged and sat there, telling them everything there was to know about Ponyboy and Steve. Finally we landed into Winter Wonderland. There was only snow. Snow, snow, and snow. The first thing I saw was snow, the first thing I stepped on was snow and the first thing I touched was snow. How were we ever going to find them?

***I know it's been a long time, but I promise the next one will come faster!!!***


	23. Steve: Remembering

**Steve: Remembering**

****

**Disclaimer: I own no one except for Teri.**

**I updated! I updated!!!! WHOO HOO!!! Okay, the story is almost done. There are 2-3 more chapters. Maximum. I'm so sorry it took so long to finish it. **

**Thanks for the reviews: Naria4 **(Oh, that's okay. I'm glad you liked the story though! There's more coming your way soon!), **Latinagal **(I did? Wow, I didn't know I could do that!! Lol, well thanks for adding me!), **Pony's girl **(Awww thanks! You rock!), **JustinMcBrideCSNStevesGurl **(Yeah I know, stupid wolf. Urgh, I have way too much trouble typing wolf…lol sorry that was random. Thanks for reviewing!), **GirlsDontCri **(Thanks! Update your story soon! I'm dying of suspense here!), **Lizzy Halliwell (Oh I'm sorry! This was a lot shorter than last time. I'm going to try and do that again =D), ****Blatty (YES!!! I KNEW I COULD ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING! Lol…I try I try. Thanks for reading the Everwood stories too, by the way.), **Kimmerkay **(He apparantly did, didn't he?), **Jessie C **(You'll find out how they're doing in this chapter!), and ****MissLKid (Laura…rp-ing is awesome with you. Thanks for reviewing! Hope to see ya online sometime…hopefully when I do, my teachers aren't loading me with homework, lol.)**

 ****

            "I think he's coming around." I heard voices around me coming from every which direction. I didn't know who they were or what they wanted from all. All I wanted to do was sleep forever. 

            "Steve? Steve, if you can hear us, twitch a finger." What? No way in hell was I going to comply with their stupid rules. Who were they to think that I would anyway? If anyone knew me, they knew I didn't take authority well. I heard a faint bustling of papers before someone touched my arm. 

            "Steve? It's Soda. If you can hear me, please do something." Soda? Soda was here? That was the trigger. I slowly moved my arm, finding that it was harder than I'd expected. I heard mumbles of satisfaction and soon was reeled into curiosity. Fighting myself, I tried to pry my own eyes open, but it was like there was a heavy weight on them. Finally, after a few minutes of struggling, they popped open. A first everything was blurry like they tell you it is on television. But after a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the frighteningly white room. I slowly recognized Soda's face etched with concern at my bedside and the tubes sticking out of me everywhere. Not to mention the multiple amounts of machines surrounding me. These guys in white lab coats stood at the foot of the bed, observing me. Now, not only was I curious, I was getting fidgety. Like Soda, I couldn't sit still for very long.

            "What…am I doing here?" I croaked out, my throat feeling extremely parched. 

            "You're in a hospital buddy," Soda patted me on the arm, "Don't you remember?" 

            I shook my head. Remember what? What in hell was there to remember? Soda looked at the doc and he shrugged, walking over to me slowly as if I were some little kid.

           "Steve," he started slowly doing check-ups on me, "do you remember who this is?" he pointed to Soda.

            "Yeah…" Of course I remembered who Soda was! He was my best friend!

            "Do you remember where you live?"

            "In Tulsa," I answered impatiently. The doctor nodded and went on with the check-up, whispering something to Soda before leaving the room to go check on someone else. I looked to Soda to clear up my confusion. What was going on? Why was I here? Soda pulled up a chair and sighed.

            "You've been out for a few days, buddy," he said smiling, "Everyone was worried about you. Even Two-bit. And when Two-bit gets worried, it's never a good thing. He was a nervous wreck the whole time you and Ponyboy were out."

            "Wait a minute. What happened to your brother?"

            "I'll explain," he said, "It's long though."

            "I've got time."

            "Okay. Well your school planned a survival trip. It counted for a big part of your final grade. Everyone was put into groups and stuff. You and Ponyboy were put into the same group."

            "How?" I wrinkled my nose, "Everyone knows we don't get along well." 

            "Obviously the principal didn't give a damn because you guys not only were in the same group, you were in the same tent and you were assigned as partners."

            "Damn," I interrupted him again.

            "Yeah well I don't really know what happened on the trip because Pony doesn't really remember too much of it. He just said that he remembers fighting with you almost every single night. On the last day, you were given your final assignment and the teachers warned the both of you that you had one last chance to pull by with a C. You'd apparently failed all your other assignments. So the thing was, you had to go through this trail that was marked on a map and you had a compass with water and food with you. Both of you had to work cooperatively to get to the marker and go back to camp. You never made it to the marker. You never made it back. So when we found out they'd lost you, a search and rescue team went to get-" I cut him off. Everything was coming back and I suddenly had a somewhat clear version of what happened.

            "The wolf," I whispered. Soda's head snapped up.

            "What?"

            "The wolf," I repeated, "There was a wolf. And the compass…and the map!"

            "What? Steve, you ain't making sense."

            "No, no, no! I had the map and I was holding it the wrong way. You know I never pay attention in class! How was I supposed to know which side was up or down. And Pony had the compass set in the wrong direction. So we were totally off. And then there was this wolf thing. Pony hurt his leg and all of the sudden it came up behind us. And then I couldn't run and then…I fell. I blacked out but then Pony found me. And then I blacked out again. And now I'm here."

            "Yeah," Soda nodded, "We found both of you guys out cold. We thought you were both dead already. It was scary."

            "What happened? How'd you find us? Is Pony okay?!" I exploded with questions, just itching to get out of bed and figure it all out myself.

            "Whoa," Soda laughed, "Calm down Stevie. Pony's fine. He actually woke up last night. He has a broken leg that, luckily, doesn't need surgery otherwise we'd be in debt to the hospital for a long time. He'll just be wearing a cast and walking around in crutches a lot. He has a minor concussion and a small case of hypothermia. But other than that, he's fine. Now about finding you. 

            We went with this search and rescue squad. There was a guy on there, Jake. He was a real bastard but he was the one that found you guys so I shouldn't be saying much about him. Anyway we landed and all I could see for miles was snow, snow, and snow. And for the first half a day, we searched high and low for you guys, but we didn't find nothing. I was getting panicked by the time night fell. But this other girl told me that we weren't gonna give up. So the next morning, bright and early, we went to look for y'all again. It took us until dinner time before we heard Jake scream that he found you and Pony. We practically ran all the way to get to you. Both of you were out cold and I thought you were dead because you were so cold and everything. But Jake said that you both had a faint pulse so it was okay. We brought you back here and that was 3 days ago." It took a minute until I could digest everything Soda had said and put it together with what happened that I remembered. Getting up the hill, struggling in pain, the fear I had when I saw that wolf. It all came back to me and I wanted to scream a shout of relief. But I didn't because Greasers don't do that sort of thing. I tried sitting up so that I'd be able to carry a normal conversation with Soda without feeling inferior. But as soon as I moved to get up, a sharp and familiar pain shot up my side. Only this time, there was more of it. Soda gently pushed me back down.

            "You gotta stay down for a while, buddy. You broke a lot of your ribs there. Even more than you did when we had that rumble that night…uh, yeah."

            "Great," I muttered. Soda smiled and started talking about the girls that we'd met back at the DX before the trip. He said that he and that one girl, Teri, got together while we were gone. Things were working out well for them and I was happy for Soda. It was about time he got someone new.

            "Hey Steve?" Soda stopped in the middle of one of his mindless rants.

            "Yeah?"

            "Are you okay?" I looked at him and thought for a minute before answering.

            "Yeah. I'm going to be fine."


	24. Ponyboy: Back to Normal

**Ponyboy: **Normal****** Again**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.**

**ANOTHER UPDATION!! AREN'T YOU PROUD THAT IT DIDN'T TAKE 5 MONTHS?!?!?!?!?!**

**And I'd like to thank Araz for pointing out that I made a mistake 2 chapters ago. Pony hates green eyes, not gray eyes. Thanks!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Pony's girl **(Thanks so much!), **Araz, TallemeraRane (They had to get found sometime, didn't they? Lol)****, DreaminaboutDal (Yeah the end is near though.), **Naria4 **(Aww thank you! I didn't think that was one of my best chapters. It was kind of dry, but whatever. As long as you liked it!), **Kimmerkay **(We'll see about their friendship), **Jessie C **(I just read and reviewed the lastest chatper to your story but I really really really liked it!!), ****MissLKid (Ah, yes…rp-ing is awesome!), and ****JustinMcBrideCSNStevesGurl (hehe, I get a kick out of typing your user name, don't ask me why lol.)**

****

            My head itched and despite the protests of my churning stomach, I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry and I didn't really know where I was at first. All I could see was white everywhere. Sitting up, I felt the dull pain in my leg and then I remembered what happened and where I was. Slowly I turned my head to the right and saw dozens of balloons and get-well cards, decorating the creamy, chipped walls that were probably once stark white. The nausea took over and I leaned over the bedrails, up heaving everything I ate for the day, which wasn't much anyway. I pressed the call button as I dry-heaved a few times so that the room wouldn't reek of vomit all day. 

            "Hey, Pony," Darry said softly coming into the room after my barf had been cleaned, "I heard you had a little mishap this morning. How are you feeling?" 

            "A little sick," I admitted, "But pretty good otherwise." 

            He nodded. We were silent for awhile, not knowing what to say. Darry and the others had talked my ear off the nigh before when I woke from my slumber and I didn't really have much to say. I told them everything that I could remember from the mountains, but it wasn't much. 

            "How's Steve?" I asked finally realizing that I hadn't heard anything about my partner in crime.

            "He woke up a few minutes ago. Soda's in there with the doctors talking to him and everything. He doesn't remember much either, but he's okay which is all that matters. The Randles are here, though."

            "The Randles?"

            "Well, just Mrs. Randle. She said that she'd like to see you for herself and make sure that you're okay." I smiled. Steve's mother was a really sweet woman. I didn't understand why she was still married to a bastard like his dad. Darry left to go tell Mrs. Randle that she could come in. It was nice when she visited with me. It was almost like having my own mother again. She was a gentle woman and she loved the whole gang to bits and pieces because we gave Steve something to look forward to everyday and we gave him an escape from his dad. She loved Darry even more because he always took Steve in when he was pissed off at his father or something happened at home. Mrs. Randle showered me with gifts (chocolate, books etc…) and even though I didn't want to accept them, she insisted. 

            For the whole day, everyone went in to visit with Steve since he'd just woken up and I wanted so badly to walk down the hall and visit with him too. But I wasn't allowed to. Instead I spent the day reading the books that Mrs. Randle brought me and reading the get-well cards from some of my friends from school and eating the chocolate I'd received. I watched the soap operas on television and decided that I got bored of Gina crying over Anthony because he was caught cheating on her and the throwing of objects at one another didn't appeal to me much. But it was a last resort. 

            "Hi," a young nurse came in after lunch, "My name's Dara. I'll be teaching you how to use your crutches today." Finally. Something I could actually do. 

            "Can I go see Steve Randle?" I asked immediately.

            "If you learn how to use your crutches quickly." I shrugged. How hard could it be? 

***

            Using crutches was a talent; a talent that I regretted not having. I threw down the two wooden sticks that were supposed to support me for the next six weeks in frustration and desperation. I dropped onto my bed and gave an all-out groan. Dara patiently picked up the crutches and disappeared for a minute. When she came back, she helped me sit up.

            "Ponyboy," she said gently, "I put two towels onto the crutches where your armpits are supposed to go. I know it gets sore after awhile so I put them on. It should reduce the pain there." Grudgingly, I accepted the crutches again. She was right though. I had a much easier time hopping around the room with the towels there to ease the pain. Dara advised me to use damp towels if it got too sore. 

            "So when can I go home?" I inquired. 

            "As soon as we're positive your leg will be fine and as soon as that high fever of your dies down. You probably can't feel it now since we gave you medication this morning, but it's there." I nodded and thanked her again before resuming my practice hopping around the room. 

            "Can I go see Steve now?" I asked her eagerly after hours of practicing around my room. She nodded the sign of approval and I cheered. Laughing lightly, Dara helped me out of the room and down the hall. I hopped excitedly into Steve's room and greeted Two-bit. 

            "Hey Pony, I see you're up and about now!" 

            "Hey Two-bit." I dropped into the plastic chair by Steve's bedside in exhaustion. Sure I'd mastered the crutches, but I was still tired from them. 

            "Hey Ponyboy," Steve said softly from his bed. I smiled at him and began talking to him, asking him the normal stuff. And for the first time in a long time, things seemed to be back to normal again. 

**LAST CHAPTER COMING UP!!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!**


	25. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**No one's POV**

**Disclaimer: (Last one *SOB*) I do not own them.**

**WHOO HOO! TWICE IN THE SAME DAY! THIS IS A RECORD FOR ME!!!!!!!!!**

           It didn't seem as if anything had changed after the whole ordeal with Ponyboy Curtis and Steve Randle. If you looked at both boys, you'd still see the same greasers as you saw before they left. But if you looked closely enough, there would be something else there. A spark in each of them. A change. Eventually, both boys were released from the hospital, Ponyboy before Steve. And eventually, both boys made their way back to school each having to play catch-up with all their work. But for once the teachers were sympathetic towards both boys. If it was because they felt guilty that they hadn't looked after the boys more closely on the trip up in the mountains or because they had a true change of heart, one couldn't tell you. Mostly likely, it wasn't the latter. Still, Ponyboy got excused from the two history tests he'd missed and the few essays and labs in the other classes. All he had to do was learn the material and now it for the final at the end of the year. As for Steve, he had to make up an important essay for his mid-term. And that was all. 

            Ponyboy hobbled down the hallway on his third day back at school, Jake Perrimont trailing him with his back-pack. Pony had found a new dependency on his school friends and they gladly helped him, knowing that he'd always been there for them when they needed help as well. Jake and Ponyboy didn't talk much since they were focused on getting to their next class before the bell rang and the downpour of students intervened with their destination. Pony saw a familiar figure in the distance, knowing all too well that it was Steve. It would be the first time since they came back to school that the two had seen each other in school in front of other people. A few Socs who knew very well the existence of hatred each greaser once had (or still had) towards the other stood against lockers waiting to watch the scene unfold. 

            _"You did it, Pony! You did it! I told you that you could do it!" Johnny's voice rang through Ponyboy's head._

            _"I'm proud of you kid. I told you not to let Steve get to you and you did! But you pulled yourself out good. It ain't everyday you see that." Dally's harder voice tinted with softness at the edges told him. _

            _"Steve, you dumb fuck. I'm proud of you!" Steve heard Dally's voice sound through his head as soon as he saw Ponyboy in the distance with his friend lugging along behind him. Steve had his lunch period and was roaming the halls, wanting to get away from it all. _

            _"You worked together and you did it. Remember that forever." Johnny's voice faded away and Steve almost lunged out to preserve his friends' voices in his mind forever. But he didn't have to because they were already there. _

            The handful of students that were in the hall at the time froze in their spots, waiting to see if there would be an explosion. They were sorely disappointed.

            "Hey," Pony nodded at Steve as he passed.

            "Hey," Steve waved at the younger boy, careful not to knock him over. Ponyboy Curtis and Steve Randle would never be good friends; they just weren't meant to be. But they wouldn't hate each other anymore either. They'd been through too much together. 

~The End~

**I'd like to thank EVERYONE for reading this and reviewing this and encouraging me that I could do it. No Safety Zone was my second fanfic ever and if I look back at my first one (which was for another TV show), I've improved a lot. Now I'm writing for other fandoms as well as this one and I'm loving it. Thanks so much for sticking with me no matter how frustration or slow I became. You guys are the best!!! See you in another story soon!**

**~*Crazy4nc128*~**


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